In last Friday’s exhibition finale against the Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers place kicker Zane Gonzalez suffered a significant groin injury while warming up on the sideline with the kicking net. He was spotted on crutches after the game in the locker room, leaving little doubt that it would be a long-term injury and unfortunately for Gonzalez, that proved to be the case.
Tuesday afternoon, the Panthers placed Gonzalez on injured reserve, ending his season before it started.
Carolina had less than two weeks to find a new kicker. Per the NFL’s personnel notice, as spotted by Pro Football Talk’s Charean Williams and The Athletic’s Joe Person, the Panthers worked out the following five kickers on Monday: Taylor Bertolet, Brian Johnson, Chase McLaughlin, Eddy Pineiro, and Matthew Wright.
Earlier Wednesday, the team made their decision, signing free agent kicker Eddy Pineiro to a one-year contract.
Pineiro, 26-year-of age, has been in the league since signing with the Oakland Raiders as an undrafted free agent in 2018 out of the University of Florida. He spent the 2018 and 2020 seasons on injured reserve. He had a cup of coffee with the Raiders, the Indianapolis Colts and the Washington Commanders, but has only appeared in regular season games for the Chicago Bears and New York Jets.
Pineiro spent his rookie campaign with Panthers special team coordinator Chris Tabor in Chicago back in 2019. Pineiro converted 23/28 field goal attempts for the Bears but lost the job to Cairo Santos the next season. He was signed by the New York Jets in 2021, hitting 100% (8/8) of his field goal attempts over five games.
For his career, Pineiro has made 31 of 36 attempted field goals across 21 games for an 86.1% conversion rate. He has converted 36 of 39 extra points attempts for a 92.3% rate. He has also averaged 60.4 yards per kickoff across 52 kickoffs, including 26 touchbacks.
Carolina is optimistic Pineiro will keep their special teams above water this regular season. He will get to display to the team what he can do when they face Jacoby Brissett and the Cleveland Browns next Sunday.
