The Buccaneers signed former Kansas City, Chicago and Los Angeles Rams kicker Cairo Santos on Monday to replace Chandler Catanzaro. The Bucs nearly signed Santos last year to replace Patrick Murry, but he was coming off a groin injury last year.
Santos was brought in for a tryout two weeks ago, but the Bucs elected to stick with Catanzaro, who made all four of his extra points in Carolina last year, but was 1-of-3 on his field goals yesterday, including a miss from 30 yards.
The Brazilian born Santos was 3-of-3 last season in Kansas City with all three of his field goals coming in the 30-39-yard range prior to his groin injury and was perfect on all 12 of his extra points before being released. He signed with Chicago where he was 1-of-2 last year, missing from beyond 50 yards, but making both extra points.
Santos was signed by the Rams for two games this year and went 5-of-6 (83.3 percent) on field goals with his lone miss coming from beyond 40 yards. He was 5-of-6 on extra points. Prior to kicking with the Rams, Santos spent the offseason with the New York Jets, who released him on August 22 after he missed time with an injury.
Santos’ best season came in 2016 when he connected on 88.6 percent of his field goals, making 31 of 35 kicks, and connecting on 36-of-39 extra points. Over his last 19 games, including the first three of the 2017 season, Santos has made 89.4 percent of his kicks.
In his four year Chiefs career, Santos made 89-of-105 field goals, connecting on 84.8 percent of his kicks. He was 125-of-130 on his extra points in Kansas City. Santos, who also handles kickoff duties, has a strong, accurate leg from long range, too. He’s 7-of-12 (58.3 percent) in his career from 50 yards and beyond with a long of 54.