Connor Barth tears Achilles tendon, will miss season; Buccaneers sign Lawrence Tynes

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have their first major injury of the season: placekicker Connor Barth has torn his Achilled tendon and will miss the season, the Bucs have announced. Barth tore his Achilles tendon in a charity basketball game on Friday, playing with other NFL players. The Bucs will place him on the "non-football injury" list.

Barth has been outstanding as a field goal kicker, hitting over 82% of his kicks over the past two seasons. He appeared to be the definition of reliable and has hit several clutch field goals in the final minutes of games over the course of his career. Barth was rewarded with a four-year, $13.2 million contract last season. With Michael Koenen handling kickoffs, however, that contract may be overpaying him.

The Bucs signed Lawrence Tynes to compete with rookie Derek Dimke. Tynes has won two Super Bowls with the New York Giants and has a career field goal percentage of 81.5%, and hit 83.6% of his field goals over his New York Giants tenure.

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