Fabrizio Scaccia is a little-known kicker that currently plays for the Arizona Rattlers of the Arena Football League. The playoffs are around the corner and the Rattlers are gearing up to make a run at an ArenaBowl Championship, but Scaccia's days preparing for such a game appear to be numbered. Our own San Francisco 49ers own his rights and with the NFL lockout coming to an end, he can't play for another professional football team or league.
Scaccia has a lot going for him right now, and that's without even factoring in his alleged 68-yard field goal. The guy was very good in the UFL, nailing most of his field goal attempts, and only missing those above 48-yards. With the Rattlers in the AFL, I personally watched him kick away the San Jose SaberCats chances from the HP Pavilion press box a couple months ago. He nailed a 38-yarder and looked great doing it.
Now, a 38-yarder doesn't sound all that impressive until you realize that the Arena Football League goal posts are half as long as regulation NFL posts.
He's also gone 101-for-113 in extra points for the 2011 season. In case you didn't know, that's nothing short of top-three in the league. Extra points are missed with regularity in the AFL due to the smaller posts, so it's impressive that he's got that kind of a percentage going for him. When the 49ers signed him to a future contract, not much more was known than the fact that he allegedly had nailed a 68-yarder. He had a strong leg. We now know that he's at least pretty good in regards to accuracy and that makes him, from what we can deduce, an all-around kicker.
Many speculated that the team would select a kicker in the 2011 NFL Draft, but the team neglected to do so. The free agent market isn't a big one and the team is then left only with Joe Nedney under contract. Jeff Reed did some fill-in duties for Nedney when he was injured last season and did it well, but he's not under contract for the upcoming season. Nedney has been hurt off and on recently, and has never had a power leg, but has been something at least approaching dependable for some time now.
Who knows what Scaccia's chances are or what his potential is? He's young and has a big leg, and appeared to get a vote of confidence from the 49ers when the team neglected to draft a kicker. It should be an interesting offseason for Scaccia, and well ... an interesting postseason for the Rattlers. At the very least, he's in the mix.