Justin Medlock’s return leaves the Tiger-Cats with some interesting kicking decisions to make

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats announced Wednesday that they'd signed a deal with Justin Medlock, the former import kicker/punter who played for them in 2011 (after two years in Toronto) before heading to the NFL. That's likely to significantly change their kicking dynamics heading into next year, as Medlock is all but certain to take over the kicking job (incumbent Luca Congi is a pending free agent, and unlikely to return) and he may take the punting job from Josh Bartel as well. The team also signed Canadian kicker Brett Lauther to a new deal, but he's likely an understudy going forward. It's worth watching how they proceed with Bartel, though; there are two potential options, but each has benefits and drawbacks.

The first option is to have Medlock handle all aspects of the kicking game, as he did in 2011. That could work, and it has the benefit of only tying up one game-day roster slot on a kicker, allowing the team to use an additional slot for a backup/special-teams player. However, Medlock only averaged 41.6 yards per punt in 2011, which would have ranked him behind everyone but Noel Prefontaine, Paul McCallum and Hugh O'Neill this past season, and he hasn't punted in over two years, as his NFL opportunities were as a kicker. Medlock brings plenty of promise in the kicking game, as he hit 89.1 per cent of his field goal opportunities in 2011 and was impressive from long range, making 22 of 26 attempts from beyond 40 yards and four from beyond 50, but his punting ability is much more in question. He can probably do an acceptable job of punting, but he's unlikely to be amongst the league's best.

The team does already have an excellent punter in Bartel, though. He averaged 43.7 yards per punt last season, and the remarkable control and spin he can put on the ball allowed for both impressive directional punting and solid hang time, aiding Hamilton's special teams coverage. He was selected as the East Division's all-star punter, and deservedly so. Moreover, his Aussie Rules football background means he counts as a non-import, so he doesn't take up one of the 19 non-quarterback import slots on a roster, unlike Medlock. Using different players at the punting and kicking slots would mean there's one less roster spot available for a special teams guy, though, and the Tiger-Cats will have to decide if that's a worthwhile tradeoff. If they elect to go with Medlock in the punting game, they might be able to get something in trade for Bartel, but that's far from a certainty; despite his solid performance last year, they don't have a ton of leverage, as most other teams have their kicking situations reasonably well-set, and even those eager to make a change might think they can just wait until the Tiger-Cats cut him if they're not going to use him.

As per Lauther? At the moment, he's largely a developmental proposition. He began the year as a backup following his 53rd overall selection in the draft out of Saint Mary's, but eventually spelled Congi when the more experienced kicker struggled. He got off to a great kicking start in Touchdown Atlantic, going four-for-four in front of family and friends, but only went two-for-six afterwards and lost the job to Congi, even being released in November. It makes sense for the Tiger-Cats to bring him back, though, especially with Medlock returning, Congi likely exiting and Bartel perhaps on the way out as well. Lauther can be a useful backup, and perhaps he'll eventually develop into more. For the moment, though, Hamilton's decision appears to be whether to use Medlock across the board or hang on to Bartel and split the kicking duties. It will be interesting to see what they do.