6 Carolina Panthers players who earned themselves contracts for 2022
By Luke Tucker
Zane Gonzalez – Carolina Panthers K
Perhaps the most pleasant surprise of the season for the Carolina Panthers was the performance of Zane Gonzalez. The kicker position has been a major weak spot since Graham Gano injured his leg and few expected the Arizona State product to solidify things the way he did.
In 12 games, Gonzalez made a career-best 90.9 percent of his field-goal attempts, good enough for eighth-best among qualified kickers. In total, he made 20/22 tries and was successful in all but one extra-point attempt.
Aside from his sheer accuracy, another nice tidbit for the Panthers was that Gonzalez drilled touchbacks on 63.6 percent of his kickoffs, which was another career-best. That does not exactly top across the league, but the seventh-round pick isn’t known for having a big leg, and he showed that he can dial up the power meter on longer kicks.
He was perfect within 50 yards and made three of his five attempts from beyond that range. Nonetheless, he knocked through a career-long 57-yard field goal against the Atlanta Falcons – longer than the career-bests of both John Kasay and Joey Slye.
The only red flag for re-signing Gonzalez would be the feel around the league regarding a quad injury he suffered in pregame warmups at the Buffalo Bills. If the Panthers feel he can be back to full health by the time OTAs roll around, then he is certainly a candidate to return to Carolina in 2022.