How NFL Kickers Have Significantly Improved Through the Years

The NFL kicker position has changed a great deal in the decades since it all began. Kickers aren’t seen as a sideline anymore but as the backbone of a team. 

With games becoming more aggressive and intense, kickers have become ever more important. That’s because training methods, technology, and switching strategies have taken the art of kicking to a whole other level. Let’s find out how things have evolved.

The Beginning of NFL Kickers

Early on in professional football, kickers were basically position players who also made field goals and extra points. There was no such thing as specialization, and kicks weren’t even close to working consistently. They had crude tactics, and players didn’t have a lot of fancy mechanics, just brute force. The game was all about running and passing; the kicking game was a sideshow.

Straight on kicks also reigned in this time. Players played with leather cleats with almost no consideration for shoe or technique. Kickers did not always attempt the ball from very far away, or they sailed it, and that made them a non-integral piece of a team’s offense. This didn’t change until the 1950s and ’60s, when the role gained real weight and led to the development that would come.

The Coming of the Soccer-cross Kick

The final nail in the coffin for straight on kicks was the soccer kick. In the 1960s, hitters such as Pete Gogolak switched things up and started attacking the ball from the side of the foot, adapted from soccer. The result was that it was possible to make the strokes more precise and powerful than with the direct-on stroke. The kick was popular—in the style of soccer—and, by the 1980s, was the league norm.

It was also the arrival of a new type of kicker with this morphing of technique. Most started learning kicking much earlier and only ever really learned it to be a kicking pro. And the payoffs were clear—field goal percentages went up, and kickers became more consistent, even at a distance. The success of the soccer-style kick taught us that we needed to tailor processes to maximize performance, and we still do.

This was also a time when the NFL began to explode in popularity, not just in the US but all over the world. And that goes without mentioning the rise of sports betting. While it would be a while before gamblers would be searching for free bets vs risk-free bets (free bets require no money to be wagered while risk-free bets give you back your money if you lose—both of which allow bettors to place bets without risking their own money) on their computer, bettors would head down to their local bookies in droves to place their bets.

Advances in Training and Conditioning

These NFL kickers are now better than ever physically, technically, and psychologically. Training and conditioning have influenced much of this evolution. Kickers’ strength and conditioning training programs have gotten kickers to have the leg muscle they need to regularly make field goals beyond 50 yards.

Kickers now have the toolbox, video analysis, and biomechanics to succeed. Observing their shape and fine-tuning their play can get the best possible technique and power from it. Coaches are on the ground with kickers to watch everything they do, from where the plant foot is to how the leg swing carries through.

Mental preparation is another big space kickers have expanded into. With the match often down to one goal, the pressure on these players is huge. The power of sports psychologists and visualization techniques that help kickers remain calm under pressure allows them to perform at their highest level in a high-stakes game.

Advancements in training and technology have progressed the sport so much that even semi-professional A7FL teams are much better than early NFL players; note there is no kicking in the A7FL.

The Impact of Rule Changes

Several years of rule changes also played into NFL kickers’ evolution. Backing the extra point kick to the 15-yard line, for instance, in 2015, put an extra dimension of challenge on a near-automatic punt. This compelled teams to prioritize having a consistent kicker because any lost extra points could really make the difference in a game.

What’s more, the growing analytics in football have also revealed the strategic value of field goals. And now, coaches have data to help them decide when to kick and when to pass on fourth down. This analytics dependence has also pointed to the need for kickers who can prove themselves over and over, even in tough times.

Technological Innovations in Equipment

It’s not just the progression of technique that NFL kickers have benefitted from. Footballs are made today to be the most aerodynamic you can get and give more control. Kicking cleats are better suited for the job, and turf technologies make fields more predictable.

Even snapping and holding is a professional art. Long snappers and holders operate perfectly in lockstep with kickers, giving you as little margin for error as possible, and a clean kick every time. Such innovations are small, but combined, they’ve taken the kicking game to new heights of accuracy and dependability.

Records and Milestones

We can tell how NFL kickers have come along in the record sets they set. Field goals of 50 yards or more, which used to be the exception, are the norm. For modern kickers, they can be as high as Justin Tucker, who made the longest field goal in NFL history at 66 yards.

Tucker’s feat is not an anomaly, it is representative of the league’s progress as a whole with kicking. The kickers of today continue to set performance records, with their ability to deliver in tight spaces. These accomplishments are a reflection not only of individual brilliance but also of the position’s evolution over time.

Conclusion

How NFL kickers have changed shows the strength of creativity, hard work, and adaptability. And the job has been in a hugely different place since the humble origins of straight-on kicking through to the power and control of today’s elite players. New techniques, training, and technology have turned kickers into team necessities.

With a changing game in full force, there will be opportunities for kickers to reinvent what’s possible and come out on top of the challenges they face. 

Whether it’s a field goal to win games or setting new records for distance, these players have proven to be major contributors to the NFL’s long history. They prove that even the most niche of sports positions can become arenas for glory.