Cam Little gets best B-Day gift ever and continues to impress in Jaguars win vs. Bucs

The same day the Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20-7, Cam Little turned 21. While he didn't get the chance to celebrate, he had a strong outing. Moreover, he got a nice birthday present from teammate Ross Matiscik. All things considered, it was a good day for the rookie kicker.

Little made two attempts against the Bucs and both of them were good. He's now 5-of-6 in the preseason, validating the team's decision to waive Riley Patterson at the beginning of training camp. His only miss came in the opener when he tried a 62-yard field goal. It had the strength but the wind didn't help. It's fair to say that it would've been good under better weather conditions.

Following his encouraging performance, Little met with the local media. He said he's used to not celebrating his birthday but was thrilled to get the win.

"21, finally. Golly, because all my friends have turned 21 two years ago in college, but now we're here... I'm happy I made my field goals. We got a dub tonight," Little told the media after the win. "I got to see my boys make plays, and that was enough for me. So I'm happy with my birthday today."

Little continued, "Usually, it comes during fall. Back in college, it was during fall camp, and we'd always have a scrimmage like today or tomorrow. We have meetings early in the morning. I've always been kind of used to me not being able to celebrate it. I'm not too, too mad about it, though, wins enough for me."

Later in the exchange with the local media, Little said that he got a bracelet from Matiscik, so it wasn't all bad.

"Ross laid it down a little bit. But look, if you guys see, Ross gave me a friendship bracelet for my birthday. He wears a cam little one. I wear a Ross one. So a little token of his appreciation."

Little's age has been a topic of discussion and even the source of jokes because he wasn't able to legally drink. Special teams coach Heath Farwell recalls that when he first met the kicker, he forgot he couldn't get any alcoholic beverages.

Regardless of his age, Little has shown he can be the long-term answer to Jacksonville's woes at kicker. Here's his exchange with the local media following the win over Tampa Bay, via 1010 XL.

The win vs. the Buccaneers shows the Jaguars have a keeper in Cam Little

Little was one of three kickers who heard their name called in this year's draft. It's commonly assumed that if a team uses a selection on the position, they expect him to earn the job. So far, the former Arkansas Razorback has done enough to make you think that the Jaguars won't have to worry about the kicker position for the foreseeable future.

Their issues began when Josh Lambo struggled in 2021. Once reliable, he struggled with injuries and confidence that year. Jacksonville moved on from him and brought in Matthew Wright to replace him. However, he was a short-term fix.

Wright was given the boot in 2021 and the Jaguars went through several kickers before they settled on Riley Patterson, a waiver-wire pickup. While he struggled at the midpoint of 2022, he finished the season strong and even kicked the game-winning field goal against the Los Angeles Chargers in the playoffs.

On the other hand, Patterson didn't have the strength for kickoffs and long field goals, which is why they thought Brandon McManus would be an upgrade at kicker in 2023. He wasn't, and let him walk in free agency earlier this year. Along the way, the team's brass brought back Patterson but he was nothing more than a stopgap. If that wasn't the case, they wouldn't have signed Joey Slye in free agency or drafted Cam Little.

Looking back, it's not surprising that Cam Little won the kicker job but rather that he did it in such a convincing manner. Realizing he was their guy, the Jags moved on from Patterson a few days into training camp.

Little, so far, rewarded the team's trust in him with a series of impressive performances. That one of them happened to fall on his birthday, it's just the cherry on the top.

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