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Houston Texans Undrafted Free Agents With A Chance

By Travis Oquin

Feb 25, 2016; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Houston Texans general manager Rick Smith speaks to the media during the 2016 NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 25, 2016; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Houston Texans general manager Rick Smith speaks to the media during the 2016 NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports /
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Ka’imi

Fairbairn – K – UCLA

5’11” – 185

Ka’imi Fairbairn will come in and compete for the kicker job with incumbent Nick Novak.  Novak was the number 2 rated kicker on most draft boards in the draft and very likely a priority signing for the Texans, which means he should have gotten a little extra money to come here, plus know that he has a real shot at the job.

While Novak was pretty consistent at extra points and closer field goals, he struggles to get touchbacks on kickoffs and is not strong on field goals from 50 yards and up.

Fairbairn had an outstanding senior season, earning 2015 the Lou Groza Award as the nation’s top place kicker.  He made all 16 of his field goal attempts under 40 yards in 2015.  From 50+ he made 2-of-3, including a personal-best 60-yard field goal. Fairbairn finished his career by making 41 straight field goals from under 35 yards.

He has a strong leg that had 63% of his kickoffs resulting in a touchback.  There’s no reason why Fairbairn won’t have a solid chance to unseat Novak for the job.  The Texans clearly don’t have a tremendous amount of faith in Novak as the long term kicker as they only committed to a low amount one year contract on Novak.

Next: Defensive Guys Have Better Odds?

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