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A coach whose team once drafted a kicker with a first-round pick possibly has found its latest long-term option at kicker from the scrap heap.

“He is the real deal,” Raiders coach Jon Gruden recently said regarding Daniel Carlson, via Michael Gehlken of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “He was a pretty high draft kick for a placekicker. [Editor’s note: But not a first-rounder.] He had his struggles in Minnesota, but he has found his rhythm here and hopefully he is a long-term solution for us.”

Carlson, a fifth-round pick cut after a disastrous second career game in Green Bay (which followed struggles throughout the preseason) improved his kicking, as Gehlken explains, by shrinking his approach by one step.

“It’s just easier to control when you’re a little more compact,” Carlson said. “Those steps aren’t as long. You try to be as repeatable as possible. And I’m already 6 feet 4, 6 feet 5. I’m almost at a disadvantage there because it’s harder to be repeatable when you’re that tall. As a 5-10 kicker, it’s easier to have the same exact angles and levers and stuff.”

Continuity is the key, for any kicker.

“I have to continue to work on staying compact in my tall frame,” Carlson said. “That way, every time I get to the ball, it’s the exact same. Adrenaline can change things, too. So you try to be the exact same as in practice as you are in a game and just carry all that technique over.”

As the fifth kicker this year in Oakland, it has worked. Carlson has made nine of 10 field goals and 11 of 11 extra points (which are now 33-yard field goals).

Although he signed only a one-year deal in Oakland, the rules of the CBA will give the Raiders exclusive rights to him for 2019, allowing them to squat on Carlson for a one-year, minimum-salary offer for each of the next two years. He’ll be eligible for restricted free agency in 2021 and unrestricted free agency in 2022, unless the Raiders give him a long-term deal before either happens.