The Sports Xchange

Connor Barth is back with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The place-kicker outlasted Kai Forbath, Randy Bullock and Billy Cundiff in a tryout Monday, the same day the Buccaneers released kicker Kyle Brindza. Brindza missed three kicks in Sunday’s loss, part of a growing epidemic of inaccuracy for kickers around the league.

During Tampa Bay’s latest loss, Barth proclaimed his willingness to return to the Buccaneers “for the right price” via Twitter.

Barth is back where he kicked from 2009-2012.

Week 4 around the NFL included 14 missed field goals and four missed extra points prior to the Monday night game. It’s been four years since the league has seen 18 missed kicks in one week of play.

Perhaps even more alarming, placekickers made only 15 of 22 attempts (68.2 percent) from under 40 yards. That’s about a 12 percent drop from that distance since the start of 2013.

“I did not think it would have this type of impact,” Bucs coach Lovie Smith said. “I thought, moving (the PAT) back to the 15-yard line, it’s a fairly short field goal to make. A little bit longer extra point. And now it’s really being discussed. We’re talking an awful lot about the kickers, putting more pressure on them each week. I didn’t at the time and now, unfortunately, we’re really having to deal with it and we’ll find a way to deal with it a little more.