We wanted to take a look today at the highest drafted kickers in NFL history. In reverse order, here is the top ten.

10. Jason Hanson – Washington State University
In 1992, the Detroit Lions used their 2nd round pick, the 56th overall, to select Jason Hanson. Hanson would kick for the team for 18 years, working his way into being one of the best ever.

9. Chip Lohmiller – University of Minnesota
The Washington Redskins selected Chip Lohmiller with the 55th overall pick, a second rounder, in 1988. He would have some great seasons and contribute to some of Washington’s best teams.

8. Chris Bahr – Penn State University
In 1976, the Cincinnati Bengals used their second round pick, the 51st overall selection of the draft, to take Penn State’s Chris Bahr. Bahr would kick in the NFL for more than 14 years for the Bengals, Raiders, and Chargers.

7. Mike Nugent – Ohio State University
In 2005, the New York Jets selected kicker Mike Nugent in the second round with the 47th pick overall. He continues to be a valuable addition to the team.

6. Jerry DePoyster – University of Wyoming
The 37th pick of the 1968 NFL Draft, a second round pick, was used by the Detroit Lions to choose Jerry DePoyster. He stayed in the league just five years and also kicked for the Oakland Raiders.

5. Chester Marcol – Hillsdale College
In 1972, the Green Bay Packers used their 2nd round pick, the 34th overall, on kicker Chester Marcol out of Hillsdale College in Michigan. Marcol would kick for the team until 1980. He is also one of just four players from Hillsdale to ever play in the NFL.

4. John Lee – UCLA
The St. Louis Cardinals used their second round pick, the 32nd overall, on two time All American kicker John Lee out of UCLA. Lee had set a great many records while kicking in college, many of which that still stand, but he was out of football after just one season.

3. Sebastian Janikowski – Florida State University
The Oakland Raiders used the 17th pick in the first round when they made Florida State’s Sebastian Janikowski the third kicker ever picked in the first round of the NFL Draft. Janikowski still kicks for the Raiders and has had a very successful career.

2. Steve Little – University of Arkansas
In 1978, the St. Louis Cardinals selected Steve Little with their first round pick, the 15th overall. Little would only start two seasons and after a third would be out of the NFL. Little would also punt during his short career.

1. Charlie Gogolak – Princeton University
In 1968, the Washington Redskins made Princeton’s Charlie Gogolak the first kicker ever selected in the first round of the NFL Draft. He was one of the first “soccer style” kickers to play in the NFL and was somewhat successful during his seven year career. His younger brother Pete would also play in the NFL.

Kickers are very important, but are often not selected in the first round of NFL Drafts. In fact, the first NFL Draft was held in 1936 and since then only three kickers have been selected in the first round. Choosing kickers is a tough job for NFL teams, as is obvious by the fact that many of the highest drafted overall are not among the best kickers to ever play in the game.

Tweet This Post

One position that doesn’t get the attention it deserves is kicker. Here is a look at the five best seasons put up by a Dallas Cowboys kicker.

#1 – 1995 – Chris Boniol
The 1995 Dallas Cowboys went 12-4, finished first in their division, and went on to win the Super Bowl. Their kicker that season, Chris Boniol, attempted 28 field goals and made 27 of them, for a field goal percentage of 96.4%. He did miss two extra points that season, but because of the high powered offense he attempted 48, so that isn’t too bad.

#2 – 1997 – Richie Cunningham
1997 saw the Cowboys put up a record of 6-10, but it wasn’t because of their kicking game. They were actually 6-5 at one point before losing the last five games of the season. This was the last season that Barry Switzer was the head coach of the team. Richie Cunningham was the kicker that year and he made 34 of 37 attempts for a 91.9 field goal percentage. He was also perfect on his extra point attempts, 24 for 24.

#3 – 2008 – Nick Folk
In 2008, the Cowboys went 9-7. This was Wade Phillips second season as the head coach of the team. This was also the kicker Nick Folk’s second year in the league. He would do really well, making 20 of 22 field goal attempts for a 90.9 field goal percentage. At 42 for 42, he was perfect on his extra point attempts.

#4 – 1996 – Chris Boniol
Chris Boniol makes his second appearance on this list, thanks to the results he was able to achieve in 1996. This was the year following their Super Bowl victory and saw the team go 10-6 again. They beat the Minnesota Vikings in the Wild Card round of the playoffs before losing to the Carolina Panthers the next week. Boniol would make 32 of his 36 attempts for a percentage of 88.9. He would make 24 of his 25 extra point attempts, or 96%.

#5 – 1987 – Roger Ruzek
1987 was not the best season in Dallas Cowboys history. They were 5-9 at one point before winning their final two games to go 7-9 for the season. Roger Ruzek was the kicker for the team that year and he would make 22 of his 25 field goal attempts for a 84.8 field goal percentage. He would hit 26 of 26 extra point attempts, so he was good there as well. Ruzek would only play in 12 of the team’s 16 games that year though. The kickers that would fill in for the other games were Kerry Brady and Luis Zendejas.

Incidentally, the worst field goal percentage a Dallas Cowboys kicker ever put up over a full year was 33.3%. That happened in the team’s second year in pro football, 1961, when Allen Green made just five of the 15 field goals he attempted. Of note though is that he made 19 of 19 extra point attempts. This would be Green’s only year in pro football.

The worst full year a Cowboys kicker ever had from an extra point perspective came in 1979. That year, Rafael Septien made 40 of 44 extra point attempts for a 90.9 percentage.

Tweet This Post

Missing the occasional extra point is going to happen. A bad snap, a bobbled hold, and loose turf can all cause an extra point to be missed; not to mention the chance that it can be blocked by the opposition. But six in one season? By a Hall of Famer? His final extra point stats that year read as 33 attempted and 27 made for a completion percentage of 81.8%… that is close to missing one out of every five attempted. That had to have driven the head coach crazy, especially in the last game of the year. Stenefud missed an extra point that would’ve given the Chiefs a 17-14 lead over the Broncos, instead they were only ahead 16-14 when Denver drove for a fourth quarter field goal that would give them the 17-16 win over the Chiefs.

Tweet This Post

Graham Gano is a placekicker who went to college at Florida State University and then was undrafted following his graduation. He signed as a free agent with the Baltimore Ravens, but was cut during preseason. Gano then signed with the Las Vegas Locomotives of the United Football League.

While in the UFL, Gano had the distinction of scoring the first point in league history, leading the league in scoring, and then kicking the game winning field goal in the UFL championship game giving the Locomotives the league title.

Following the end of the UFL season, Gano signed on with the Washington Redskins and scored the first points of his NFL career in his first game with his new team.

Congratulations Graham Gano!

Tweet This Post

When looking at the list of the top ten seasons in terms of scoring in the New Orleans Saints’ history, it is impossible not to see the mark left by Morten Andersen. The top spot actually belongs to John Carney who scored 130 points in 2002. Carney also has the 7th and 9th spots on the list too. The other seven spots in the top ten are all occupied by Morten Andersen.

It also looks like Andersen’s spot on the career scoring list for the New Orleans Saints is fairly safe too considering he is in first place with 1,318 points. Second place is occupied by kicker John Carney with just a little over half that amount, 661 points. The closest active player to Andersen’s total points as a Saint is Reggie Bush with 150 points. Keep going Reggie, only 1168 points to go! (That’s only 195 touchdowns)

Tweet This Post

How many kickers in the All-Time Top 50 played their whole careers with only one franchise? The answer is eight.

Here they are, along with where they sit on the list and when they played:

6. Jason Hanson – Lions (1992-09) *active
17. Pat Leahy – Jets (1974-91)
22. Fred Cox – Vikings (1963-77) -tie
22. Jim Bakken – Cardinals (1962-78) -tie
27. Lou Groza – Browns (1946-67)
39. Don Cockroft – Browns (1968-80)
40. Phil Dawson – Browns (1999-09) *active
44. Sebastian Janikowski – Raiders (2000-09)

This does automatically raise the question though, which kicker appearing in the All-Time Top 50 Field Goals Made list has played for the most teams?

An amazing four kickers on this list have played for seven different teams:

4. John Carney – 1988-09 *active
11. Eddie Murray – 1980-00
33. Joe Nedney – 1996-09 *active
42. Doug Brien – 1994-05

Tweet This Post

In the early days of football, the conversion was more important than the touchdown. Rules varied by league, but usually one point was given for the touchdown, four points for the conversion, and five point for a field goal. Shortly after 1900, American football began to value the touchdown more and the point scores were reversed with touchdowns being worth five points and extra points being worth just one. It wasn’t until 1912 that touchdowns were increased to their current six point value. Interestingly, the Canadian Football League (CFL) didn’t raise the value of touchdowns to six points until 1956.

Here are some more little known facts about football’s extra point kick:

-The CFL and most American college football leagues allow for a missed PAT attempt to be returned by the defense for a possible two point score. Only two states, Texas and Massachusetts, also play by these rules allowing the defensive team to score two points on an extra point attempt.

-No player has led the league in the PAT category more seasons than George Blanda. Blanda kicked more PATs than anyone else in the league eight times during his career (1956, 1961-62, 1967-69, 1972, 1974). Blanda also attempted more PATs than anyone else in NFL history (959).

-The most PAT attempts ever attempted in a season is 74, this was done by Stephen Gostkowski, the kicker for the New England Patriots in 2007.

-Two failed professional leagues, the World Football League of the 1970s and the XFL of 2001, did away with the extra point attempt altogether and used plays from scrimmage as the conversion attempt.

-In a 1966 game against the New York Giants, Washington Redskins kicker Charlie Gogolak attempted ten PATs which is the record for most attempts in one game. Gogolak is tied with two other players (Pat Harder and Bob Waterfield) for most made PATs in a game with nine.

-In the National Football League, an extra point attempt is required after every touchdown scored, even when time has run out in the fourth quarter, except for when it is scored in overtime and ends the game as part of the sudden death rule. This sometimes results in an extra point attempt being kicked with no time on the clock and the outcome of the game already decided. This because playoff position and end of year standings tiebreakers are often decided upon using the statistic of points scored.

Tweet This Post

A few facts about John Carney:

-Although he is the NFL’s scoring leader at the current moment with 1,955 points, he is only 11 points ahead of longtime Baltimore Ravens kicker Matt Stover.

-John Carney is ranked fourth all-time in scoring behind George Blanda, Gary Anderson, and the all time scoring leader in the NFL, Morten Andersen.

-2009 will be John Carney’s 22nd season in the NFL. Not too bad for a guy who ended up not getting drafted out of college (he went to Notre Dame).

-At the age of 44, John Carney was the oldest active player in the NFL during the 2008 season, and will be the oldest active player during the 2009 season as well.

-John Carney started his career wearing jersey #4 in his first season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He then switched to #3 the next season and wore that number with every team he played with through 2007. When he joined the New York Giants in 2008, he switched to #5. In 1990, for a one-game stint with the Los Angeles Rams, John Carney wore #18.

-During the 1993 season with the San Diego Chargers, John Carney doubled briefly as the punter and punted the ball four times for 155 yards.

-John Carney has no touchdowns and has run the ball just two times in his first 22 years in the league. Both rushing attempts came as a member of the New Orleans Saints, and they include a run of negative one yard and a run of three yards.

-John Carney made the Pro Bowl in 1994 which was the only season he led the league in field goals made. He wouldn’t make the Pro Bowl again for 14 years, when he did so as a member of the New York Giants in 2008.

-The all time scoring leader for the San Diego Chargers is John Carney, who scored 1,076 points while with the team.

Here’s to another great year for a great player… John Carney.

Tweet This Post

Tweet This Post

Longtime Kansas City Chiefs’ kicker Jan Stenerud has had an interesting career path filled with tons of accomplishments that ended him up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Stenerud came to America from Norway on a ski jumping scholarship to Montana State University. While at MSU, Stenerud went out for the football team and with his “soccer style” way of kicking that was not yet popular in football, he promptly broke the record for longest field goal ever kicked when he booted a 59 yarder against the Bobcats big rival the University of Montana Grizzlies.

Stenefud played his first three seasons in pro football in the AFL until the Chiefs team he was on was included in the merger with the NFL. During his three seasons in the AFL he made 70% of his attempted field goals compared with all other listed kickers in both the AFL and NFL who averaged approximately 53%. Stenerud kicked three field goals in the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl IV victory over the Baltimore Colts. Stenerud would kick for the Chiefs through the 1979 season before joining the Green Bay Packers for three seasons, and then spending his last two seasons kicking for the Minnesota Vikings. When Stenerud retired following the 1985 season he was the last former AFL player still playing in the NFL. He would enter the Hall-of-Fame in 1991.

Some Jan Stenerud career highlights:

Six time Pro Bowl selection: 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1975, and 1994
Ten time All Pro selection: 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1981, and 1984
Pro Bowl MVP: 1972
There are two other kickers in the Hall-of-Fame (George Blanda and Lou Groza), but Stenerud is the only full time kicker who didn’t play another position in the Hall-of-Fame.

A young man travels from Norway to the USA on a ski jumping scholarship and ends up in the Pro Football Hall-of-Fame!

Tweet This Post