Austin Seibert’s well-traveled NFL career brought him to Washington earlier this week — and he might’ve found a home as the Oklahoma product was signed on Tuesday and kicked the Commanders to victory on Sunday.
Seibert, one of the greatest kickers in OU history, drilled all seven of his field goal attempts in a 21-18 win over the New York Giants. He capped off his perfect afternoon by nailing the game-winner as time expired. The newly signed Commander was responsible for every single one of his team’s points and delivered the first win of the season.
“I’m having fun,” Seibert said with a big smile following his career performance. “That’s a great way to welcome myself to the team and win a football game. I’m happy with it.
“Just happiness. This whole week, me being here on Monday, everyone has just been open arms, very positive. It has been a lot easier to just kind of get into the flow of things because of the positivity around here.”
In total, Seibert made kicks of 27, 45, 26, 27, 29 and 33 yards. He was money on his chip shots and drilled his only attempt outside of 40 yards. The Commanders cut Cade York after an 0-for-2 outing in week one before promptly signing Seibert on Tuesday morning. Seibert looks like he’ll be in Washington for the forseeable future.
He’s no stranger to high-stakes moments on short notice. Seibert, a fifth-round pick by the Cleveland Browns in 2019, has played in 31 games over his five-year career. In addition to the Browns, he has spent time with the Bengals, Lions, Jets and Saints. He has been an accurate NFL kicker, hitting 80.4 percent of his 56 career field goal attempts and 90.3 percent of his extra point attempts.
Seibert starred at Oklahoma, serving as both the kicker and punter for the Sooners. He is Oklahoma’s all-time points leader, scoring 499 points in his college career, which was also an NCAA record at the time. He’s 49 points ahead of Michael Hunnicutt in second place and more than 100 points in front of touchdown king DeMarco Murray.
It was also the first win for Washington’s rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels. Daniels, a Heisman Trophy winner from LSU, earned the starting nod this summer. He certainly did what he could on Sunday, but Seibert was the one who took the team over the hump. After the game, Daniels was asked if he had any conversations with his kicker following the all-time performance.
“Appreciate you,” Daniels told Seibert. “Glad he’s on my team.”
