MITCH WARD says: Grant Shaw is the best rookie kicker in the CFL this season. And the fact that we both went to the University of Saskatchewan has nothing to do with it. Let’s start with the numbers. Sure, Rob Maver has made more field goals than Shaw – eight made kicks to Shaw’s five. But Shaw hasn’t missed. He’s a perfect 5-for-5 on field goals and 4-for-4 on PATs. Shaw’s degree of difficulty has also been substantially higher than Maver’s. He banged home a 52-yarder last week in a 4-for-4 performance to help the Argos snap a nine game slide. On the other hand, six of Maver’s makes have come from inside of 25 yards and his one attempt from 40+ (a 42-yard attempt in Week #1) sailed wide right. The average distance on Shaw’s field goals is 31.4 yards – a full 10 yards farther than Maver’s. Shaw has a booming leg and a ton of room to improve. In university, he was actually a Canada West All-Star at cornerback, he just happened to kick in his spare time. The fact that he never devoted himself to kicking full-time in either the university or junior ranks not only makes his current performance impressive but makes his potential incredible. He’s impressed the Argos so much that he has made Justin Medlock, 2009’s second most accurate kicker and one of the Argos only bright spots, an afterthought. At six-foot-three and 210 pounds Shaw’s size, strength and speed also gives the Argos an element of versatility Maver simply can’t match. Besides handling the Double Blue’s field goals Shaw has been deployed on punt cover duties. He is the best rookie kicker in the league right now and given some more time to work with professional coaching he may just become one of the best in the league. Period. Oh and before Stein gets too ahead of himself and starts gushing over how clutch Maver is after one game winning kick against the Ticats, let’s remember something. It was a 23-yarder. If you are getting paid to kick a football, you had better make that. I would also like to deduct points from Maver for the goofy smirk in his headshot. Pot, meet kettle. JAIME STEIN says: http://www.cfl.ca/article/showdown-who-is-the-best-rookie-kicker
