Bengals claim ex-Browns kicker Austin Seibert off waivers

The Cleveland Browns waived kicker Austin Seibert on Monday, but it did not take long for the second-year player to land with another team.

The Cincinnati Bengals have reportedly claimed Seibert, and if he clears the COVID-19 protocol in time, he might be kicking against the Browns during Thursday night’s nationally televised game from FirstEnergy Stadium.

The Bengals are in need of a kicker after seeing Randy Bullock miss a game-tying 31-yard field goal on Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers. Following the miss, Bullock came up with a calf injury that left him as a limited participant in practice on Monday, but the Bengals are reportedly hopeful that he will be able to go against the Browns.

But with the waiver claim on Seibert, there may be more to Bullock’s injury. It is also possible that Seibert is just an insurance policy in case Bullock truly can’t go. Given that it takes a couple of days for a player to be cleared to join a team, the first opportunity for Seibert to be with the Bengals could come right before the game, so the convenience of having someone familiar with the conditions in Cleveland might have made Seibert attractive.

The Browns released Seibert after seeing him miss an extra point and a field goal in Sunday’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens. That continued a trend from a rocky rookie season where Seibert converted just 85.7 percent of his extra-point attempts and 86.2 percent of his field goals.

To replace Seibert, the Browns turned to old friend Cody Parkey, who was a member of the team’s practice squad. Parkey was previously with the Browns in 2016 after joining the team just days before the Week 3 game against the Miami Dolphins.

Parkey had a rough start as he missed three field goals that day as the Browns lost, 30-24, to the Dolphins. He would go on to only miss two more field goals the rest of the season, and converted 95.2 percent of his extra-point attempts.

Since leaving Cleveland after that season, Parkey has bounced around the NFL, playing with the Dolphins in 2017, Chicago Bears in 2018, and the Tennessee Titans in 2019.

In 68 career games, Parkey has converted 95.1 percent of his extra-point attempts and 84.3 percent of his field-goal attempts, including eight-of-10 from 50-plus yards, according to clevelandbrowns.com.