It’s rare that a kicker is one of the biggest stories at a given event, but the story of kicker Alfredo Gachuz Lozada is one of the most interesting ones at Pittsburgh Steelers rookie minicamp. Lozada was found at a kicking camp in Mexico that was run by Steelers scout Mark Gorscak and former Steelers kicker Shaun Suisham. In an interview on Steelers.com general manager Omar Khan talked about the team signing Gachuz and his chances of sticking on the roster.
“Well, he’s going to have the same opportunity as the other players that are here,” Khan told Alvaro Martin. “The members of our team who were there, I remember they were at the camp and they called me and said, ‘You won’t believe the foot this kicker has, it would be interesting to bring him.’ And we started talking and they sent me the videos and we decided, Let’s roll with it, let’s see how it goes.”
Gachuz was a first-round selection in the 2023 Canadian Football League Global draft by the Toronto Argonauts, and he plays for Raptors in the Liga de Fútbol Americano Professional (LFA), Mexico’s professional football league. The 26-year-old, who stands at 5’10 and weighs 225 pounds, is the LFA’s all-time leader in points scored and field goals made. He’s also been the league’s scoring leader five times.
He trains with former NFL kicker Nick Novak, who spent time with the Arizona Cardinals, Houston Texans, San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers and Washington during his NFL career. Gachuz is a two-time LFA All-Star and a former MVP.
There isn’t really a pipeline of talent coming from Mexico to the NFL. While the NFL has had international games in the country, it seems as if the league’s main international focus is across the ocean in Europe. Khan said he believes there’s NFL-quality talent in Mexico.
“I have had the opportunity to be in Mexico for the last 12 years, I think it is, and I have seen the talent is there. What we as a league have to get is more confidence that the players there understand what it takes to be able to play at that level. But the talent is there, I have seen it,” he said.
Gachuz has a strong leg, with an LFA-record 61-yard field goal. In Pittsburgh, he’s competing with B.T. Potter, an undrafted free agent out of Clemson, at minicamp for the team’s backup kicker spot heading into camp, where the winner will challenge Chris Boswell’s for the team’s kicker job. It’ll be interesting to see where Gachuz ends up if he doesn’t end up making it to Latrobe for training camp. He’s seemingly talented enough for another team to give him a shot in the NFL. If he doesn’t get signed he’ll likely head to the CFL and try to make it to the NFL through an impressive performance up north.
Gachuz’s story is a great one, and while it’s unlikely he’ll end up making Pittsburgh’s final 53-man roster, he’s a fun player to root for. I hope he continues to find success at the professional football level.
