The Art of an NFL Field Goal Kicker

The job of a field goal kicker in the NFL is an odd job. The kicker can be a hero or a zero depending on what he does on maybe a maximum of six plays. People love kickers when they do well and kick long field goals but hate them when they miss the uprights. It is no doubt the oddest job in football. A glorious but sometimes horrible job, the kickers have an interesting but odd place in football.
First, kickers are different because their immense size difference from the other players. If you look at a linebacker compared to a kicker, there is an obvious size difference. The linebackers are huge guys that can be 6, 8” and can be up to 300 pounds. However, kickers are little guys that may be six feet tall and may get to 180 pounds if they are lucky which definitely makes the kickers look like elves from the average football player.

Next, kickers make an odd fashion statement in football. Next time you have the chance, take a look at the kicker’s feet. These days, kickers wear two different colored shoes. An obvious odd thing to wear out on the football field, kickers are just a little different. There were also a few kickers that kicked without any shoes at all. Also, while the average football player has a helmet with at least three bars on their facemask that cover at least most of their face, field goal kickers wear helmets with little facemasks that usually have two small bars and cover a little bit of their face which looks very awkward in the NFL.

However, what would the NFL be without field goal kickers? Without kickers there would be no last-second game-winning field goals that decide a lot of games. The kickers sometimes only come into the game for five or six kicks but those five or six kicks can decide a game. This adds a lot of excitement to the game and would take a lot out of the game if field goals weren’t part of the game. There is no doubt that field goal kickers have a weird place in the NFL but without them, the league would not be what it is today.

Also, have you ever tried to kick a 50 yard field goal? It is not an easy thing to do. Most field goal kickers are expected to kick these every Sunday. In fact, in 1998, Jason Elam, the kicker for the Denver Broncos tied the record for the longest field goal kicking a 63 yard boot. Most people can barely get the ball off the ground which shows how much skill these kickers must have to do what they do. It is not an easy job but somebody has to do it and kickers are arguably a very important part of the game. They kick balls farther than most people can dream of. It is an odd job in the NFL but it is definitely an epic one.


Here is also some of the crazy music that the elf-like kickers like to listen to.