I was looking at an erroneous stat page.
NFL.com has Graham going 2 of 4 from 50+ in 2009 to lift his career mark to 9 of 18. Still, I've always considered Graham to be a weak legged kicker. Of his 16 2011 kickoffs (under the new kickoff placement), Graham kicked only one touchback. Color me confused that Graham is now considered to have a monster leg.
One guy observing at camp one day thought yesterday that Graham had a stronger leg and tweeted it.
Personally, this is what I've observed:
Only time at minicamp they did public kicking, Graham looked like the far superior kicker, and kicked some very very long field goals accurately, and high enough not to get block by guys who were trying to block.
Yesterday was only short kicks. That were made.
Today they did more short kicks at two distances on opposite goal from yesterday. A little breeze. I observed Bullock doink a very short kick off of the upright for a miss. I thought Graham made all his kicks but heard Scurfield say on the radio that he though Graham missed one, but he wasn't sure because he was far away.
Yes, the Texans will want to keep their draft pick guys. OTOH, Kubiak hates having to rely on rookies for key positions.
They will be monitoring camp kicks, but it is going to be all about preseason games.
Personally, I would be fine with a Rackers kind of guy. I don't think either of these guys is Janokowski-leg, so I'd be okay with Graham if that means you get a guy who has done this before, can handle the normal sorts of NFL kicks and you aren't worried he is going to soil his drawers for a real NFL game.
Also think Donnie Jones is your punter for the season. Looking good. Isn't facing a suspension. Isn't still sitting on the trainers table with a bag of ice on his knee after rehabbing like Hartmann.