Buccaneers' Aguayo motivated by impending kicking competition with Folk

Though he may take his job, Roberto Aguayo sees the addition of Nick Folk as nothing but a positive.

After Aguayo stumbled through a disastrous first campaign in the NFL, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers brought in Folk, a veteran of 10 seasons, to compete with Aguayo and possibly supplant him as the team's kicker this year.

The Bucs traded up in order to select Aguayo in the second round of the 2016 draft. He then proceeded to miss 12 field goals and two extra points during his rookie season.

Aguayo remains upbeat, however, even with a potential replacement breathing down his neck.

"It is motivation," Aguayo said to Mark Cook of PewterReport.com. "When I was in college there would be walk-on kids come in and I didn't know who they were or if they were good or whatever. But whoever they were, it was always a competition for me. Just seeing someone else out there trying to compete. I like it."

Folk was a member of the New York Jets for the past seven seasons and was released in February as a cost-cutting measure. He connected on 87 percent of his kicks in 2016, but also missed two extra points.

Aguayo believes the presence of another kicker in camp will only make him better.

"I look at it like playing golf. When you go out there playing by yourself you are playing to shoot par or shoot your best, but when you have someone else out there, it's like, 'Well he hit a good shot so I want to hit a good shot,'" he said.

"So it is good motivation for both of us and it is just going to make both of us better. And the better one will come out on top."