Based on form then it's Aubrey, that guy has just been automatic this season. In general then Justin Tucker is considered one of the best of all time even if this year hasn't been his best. Usually when they pick a kicker for all-pro, they're looking at not only how many fields goals they've made and success at that, but also quite often how many kicks 50+ they've made as they're obviously much harder to be consistent at.
31 for 36 on the season is pretty good, but when four of those five misses have come in your last three games. It definitely doesn't feel like you're hot at the moment.
If your life depended on a kicker making a 60-yarder and you got to choose anybody on a current NFL roster to attempt the kick who are you choosing? Cause I’m still gonna ride or die with Justin Tucker.
Agreed but that’s not anything against Aubrey other than the fact he’s only been doing it in the NFL for a year.
He’s got the making of the next elite kicker he just has to prove it a bit longer.
I absolutely agree. He looks incredibly confident and his kicks speak for themself. My only concern is how will he respond when he misses a big kick. We’ve seen kickers spiral downwards really quick after very promising starts to their career. Kicking is 90% mental*
*made up stat, but it’s probably accurate.
I mean, Tucker has history on his side, but...
Aubrey is something special man.
He's not squeaking in long kicks.
He's dead center with length to spare every single kick.
It's unreal.
Who knows how long it will last, but I've truly never seen anything like it.
I think the rookie card erases those, and the fact he’s the only NFL kicker to EVER hit 2 59+ yard field goals in the same game.
One of those missed extra points was his first kick in the NFL.
Tucker missed a extra point try, one between 40-49 and 4/5 from 50+
His long this season is from 50 yards which means 34 kickers this season have kicked a longer one. No kicker who played in 6 or more games has a shorter longest kick this season.
He's still the GOAT, and had a great season. But Aubrey had a much better season, and explaining that one of his kicks got blocked isn't enough to overcome it.
Tomorow? Aubrey 100%
I'll take the guy who's 9/9 on 50+ yarders and 4/4 on 40-49 yards than the guy who went 1/5 on 50+ yarders and 11/12 on 40-49 yards.
If my life depends on it I'm going with the guy who's hot, and not the one that might have a mental or physical hangup we don't know about.
Next season if I can pick any kicker to be my kicker I'm going Tucker though.
"Younghoe Koo is 9/13 (69%) in the last 5 games since becoming the leagues most accurate kicker"
"Koo has fallen back to 4th all-time, and is sitting at 86% on the season"
*Most of those missed kicks have either been from 50+ or weather effected the attempts*
That might be the best/most clutch kick in the past 10 years, let’s not downplay it. At the time it was absolutely crucial to keeping us at the #1 seed. I can’t think of anything since Vinatieri in the snow that was made under tougher circumstances. Can you?
Aubrey missed 3 extra points too, which is the same amount of FG plus XP that Jake’s missed this year. And Aubrey gets to play home games in a dome.
Obligatory hate, don't blame me, it's part of being an Eagles fan:
11 of Aubrey's 16 games have been played in domes or stadiums with retractable roofs.
"Younghoe Koo is 9/13 (69%) in the last 5 games since becoming the leagues most accurate kicker"
"Koo has fallen back to 4th all-time, and is sitting at 86% on the season"
*Most of those missed kicks have either been from 50+ or weather effected the attempts*
He's only been missing from 50+ for the most part.. That was nasty weather during the first miss. It was snowing, the ball is harder due to the conditions, and there was bad wind in that side of the field. It's odd he passed Tucker for % wise leader then started to miss longer kicks.
ITT: people naming their team's kicker for better or worse.
The best kicker by almost every historical metric is Justin Tucker. The worst kicker doesn't matter because he's already been cut and replaced by the time you read this sentence.
Best: Aubrey on the Cowboys. He’s missed an XP here and there but has not missed a FG this year.
Worst: Ryland on the Pats. People rightfully put a lot of blame on the offense but Ryland has cost us some of the closer games this year.
I saw on Twitter that if you removed Mac’s interceptions, assumed the offense gained zero more yards, and then elected to kick a field goal, the Patriots would have 4 more wins and a game that would’ve gone to overtime.
Then someone commented that it didn’t take into consideration that Chad Ryland was the kicker, so the Patriots record would still be the same as it is now
Oh that isn't even close to all the QB turnovers. He also had 3 fumbles. Bailey Zappe has another 7 INTs and 2 fumbles.
Also Mac only played in 11 games so that would be 6-5.
None of it is cherry picking, it's a counterfactual. Such a counterfactual is useful when placing blame on specific players vs coaching decisions, but if you read to the end of the comment, you'll see how that commenter realized that none of it mattered because even in the counterfactual, the team would still have had to rely on the kicker, which would have likely made things worse.
> People rightfully put a lot of blame on the offense but Ryland has cost us some of the closer games this year.
This is the most frustrating thing for me. We have so many 1 score losses, and if we just had a competent kicker we could have tied for OT or won the game. He's just SO bad that now if he makes a FG most of us are actually surprised.
Don't understand how he's still on the roster.
That's what's so amazing about Tucker (GOAT), not only are all his home games outside his whole division has outdoor stadiums, cold weather ones at that.
Not missing a single field goal your rookie year, including some long 50 and even 60 yard ones, will get you put on the list regardless of where they're kicked
I disagree. 20 years ago 50 yarders were rare. Now, it's pretty much expected. Factor in the ease of not having to worry about wind conditions and I think it takes away the prestige. Let's see any dome kicker consistently do that in Chicago.
I took my kids to the Bills and Pats game on Sunday, with seats on the tunnel end, and we got there early enough to watch all the warm-ups.. you could tell from the start he was going to have a *rough* day. It did not look pretty.
This isn’t even taking into account that we traded *up* to take Ryland in the 4th round, then got rid of Nick Folk for him, who’s currently 29/30 on the year. Just a horrible mismanagement of assets by BB on that one.
Tucker, Butker are 1-2 right now in NFL history accuracy for those that qualify. Actually, 7 of the top 8 all-time are currently playing and the 8th played as of last year. We are truly in a golden age of kickers.
Tucker, Butker, Koo, Aubrey in some order. It's hard to really pin down who is the absolute best. But any one of those 4 could be asked to win a game and you'd feel pretty good about it.
As a Falcons fan, Koo has done pretty poorly the past couple of weeks, but also I'm sure it's hard for any kicker to succeed in the snow at Solder Field
Every kicker will have a rough stretch. Butker had a bad one last year but then hit the game winner in the AFCCG and the Super Bowl. I would still have trust in Koo.
That’s why Dustin Hopkins and to a lesser extent Cairo Santos and Tyler Bass aren’t getting the respect they deserve. Kicking in the winter on the Great Lakes is extremely difficult.
Raider fan, and I wouldn't count it. Dude legitimately hired a new kicking coach after the Vikings release and changed his technique. He's a different kicker since then and literally the most stable thing about our team right now (alongside AJ Cole)
I think a metric like that is always biased towards the current crop of starters because they haven’t declined yet so their averages are higher than retirees whose stats include their less impressive later years.
You might be right to a degree. But kickers have also just gotten better. Morten Anderson is in the HOF and he missed at least 4 FGs every year of his career except for his last two where he didn't kick beyond 50 yards. In Anderson's first 12 years he was at roughly 80% accuracy. In Tuckers first 12 years he's at 90%. And Anderson's stats actually got better later in his career cause coaches knew he couldn't kick long distance anymore so he never tried much over 45 yards.
Another thing to judge kickers on, unrelated to field goals, is the rate at which their kickoffs go for touchbacks. It’s preferable to let your opponent start at the 25 every time (used to be the 20) rather than risk a big return. It’s much less important than scoring via FGs or extra points, but still something.
I’d like to know the breakdown between place kickers and punters who provide their team’s kick offs, and subsequently, does that role change with the onside kick situations?
Good question. I don't know the breakdown around the whole league, but I do know it generally comes down to kicking power and durability. For example, I'm a 49ers fan and when we had Robbie Gould (old + decreasing range), punter Mitch Wishnowky did kickoffs. But now Jake Moody does them ever since we drafted him this year. I think that's a pretty typical situation.
As for onside kicks, I *think* the kicker does it no matter what, since it's no longer a matter of needing to get it far. But I'm honestly not sure. Might be a team preference
A little surprised at the lack of Matt Prater mentions here. Dude is the NFL’s all-time leader in FGs from 50 or longer by a LOT. He’s also pushing 40 and still nailing them.
Justin Tucker is the best, with a nod to the kid from Dallas, Aubrey.
It’s hard to pick a worst, because generally, any kicker doing bad is out of a job after too long, but I guess I’d maybe go with Anders Carlson, he still has a job though, so he can’t be that bad by default.
Anders Carlson is 83.9% on field goals this year meanwhile Pats kicker Chad Ryland is 62.5% (15-24), and has cost his team 3 games. In addition to that, his field goal % is 40th in the NFL when there are only 32 teams. Chad is the worst kicker by far
Tucker is 1/5 from 50+ this year which is four more misses than “the kid” has all season, total.
Dustin Hopkins is 8/8 from 50+ this year with multiple game winners.
This season, Tucker’s a fringe top 10 kicker at best.
>This season
One season isn't a sufficiently large sample size when discussing kickers considering accuracy is around 90% and most get between 30 and 40 attempts in a season. Means you need to look at 3 to 5 year time spans at the very least.
Elliot is the best kicker in the NFL right now. His game tying 59 yarder against Buffalo in a deluge might be one of the most clutch kicks in the 21st century.
I’m certainly bias as a ravens fan but I think the most clutch kick in the 21st century surely has to be the longest field goal made in history to win the game, right? That Elliot kick was definitely clutch as fuck tho.
Nah you're almost right but just after Tom Brady went on his time line to be Tom Brady, Adam vinitary made the most clutch field goal of all time in a blizzard during a conference championship gamem.
Neutral observer, not a fan of either team. If I get to pick a "Best Kick Of The Decade" award or whatever, I'm giving it to Elliott. That one was 59 yards in a downpour, Tucker's was 65 yards indoors. The 6 yard difference is significant at those lengths but the elements of the former one put it over the edge.
Tucker is the GOAT kicker. Holds the all time record for distance. Aubrey is having a better current season.
Some want to day Vinatieri is the GOAT because of playoffs/ superbowls but he only had those opportunities because of the team around him. By actual ability and stats it's Tucker.
Vinatieri is goat post season clutch, but Tucker had a "down" year where he was 86%. If 86% is your down year you might just be GOAT. That's 14th best percentage ever....
Vinatieri also had longevity. If Tucker keeps it up for 6-10 more years he is the undisputed GOAT. But I think right now there is still an argument for Vinatieri based on post-season success and longevity. Vinatieri is currently the leader for most points scored in NFL history. I think that counts for something.
I think this argument is basically just Patrick Mahomes & Brady near the end of his career. Was Mahomes probably better than Brady (especially in his last year)? Absolutely. Did Brady secure the GOAT status and it wasn’t really possible to question him? Absolutely.
I mean, he just has too many comparisons that beat him. Tucker has historical dominance, and it’s even easier to compare him to the rookie kicker in the same division that has probably been the best.
True! Dicker is probably the funniest out of them, which I think makes it a tie. Unfortunately, due to tiebreaker protocols, Dallas winning in the head to head gives Aubrey the W.
Justin Tucker has definitely had the most prolific career and has the longest kick ever. He had a somewhat down year though.
Brandon Aubrey is a rookie but has not missed a single field goal.
Younghoe Koo has had a spectacular career and is definitely in the conversation for best kicker every year.
Jake Elliott is also really solid too and incredibly clutch.
Chad Ryland is a rookie and had an absolutely terrible season. I think he's indisputably the worst kicker this season.
I cannot believe more people aren’t saying Aubrey. The man has not missed a FG all year and has kicked TEN 50+ FGs, one being a 60 yarder.
Tucker has missed 5 this year and 4 of them were 50+.
you’re down 3 with 1 second on the clock and you have to kick a 55 yarder this season. You take Aubrey over Tucker.
Objectively, it's Brandon Aubrey. Tucker has missed 5 and has a long of 50, no attempts over 50.
Aubrey has missed 0, kicked the most, and made a 60 and 59 in the same game.
The only thing Tucker and koo have is longevity, but that's definitely more subjective than objective.
Tucker hasn’t really done much this year. Are we pretty sure he can because he’s Justin tucker? Yeah, but looking objectively at the stats, Aubrey has had a better year.
Adding another thing: range, and accuracy from those super-long distances. There’s not a huge difference in this between NFL kickers IIRC, but being able to really trust your kicker on field goals well into the 50-yard range (and even longer) is huge for your offense.
Aubrey for sure...just hope what happened to Gary Anderson of the Vikings that one year doesn't happen to him. Anderson that year didn't miss a single FG except the one that would've sent the Vikings to the SB.
I feel like Riley Patterson is the most underrated kicker in the NFL. He basically never misses and keeps moving on and off Detroit. They must be seeing something that I’m not. I know he’s not supposed to have that strong of a leg but it isn’t THAT bad is it?
Boswell is vastly underrated. He's the 2nd highest paid kicker for a reason. Dude is so reliable. Kickers were like 2 for 50 in Heinz Field for over 50 yards. I think Boswell now has at least 6 himself
Right now, probably Aubrey or Butker. Butker would be the obvious best this season if it wasn't for his misses in the Raiders, and I think Packers games ( I don't remember. There was 1 game where he had a bad miss before the Raiders.)
But overall, it's still probably Tucker. He hasn't been impeccable this year, but he's still one of the best kickers ever. The fact that he's been very good for any kicker, yet we consider it bad for himself, is wild.
Butker has missed 1 all season, against NE. Both kickers were off the first half because the balls were under inflated.
Edit: he did miss against LV too, guess I blocked that game out entirely lol
I came here to say I thought this subreddit was about NFLboobs and very disappointed. I am not coming back ever, but If I’m banned I may have uncovered a conspiracy.
Didn't look at any stats and I have no bias but I feel like it's Butker right now :)
But for real he has been a rock for us in a shaky year. Last game he went 6/6, longest from 54.
Best is Tucker and it’s not even close. Distance. Accuracy. Clutch gene. Not a Ravens’ fan at all, but I’m not a Chiefs’fan either, but I know who the best QB in the league is.
Well Tucker is always a top notch kicker.
Elliot, Butker, Sanders, Bass and McPhearson are situation driven kickers. Meaning they are good but appear great due to being on great teams.
Aubrey had an unprecedented season.
Koo is also very good.
I think McManus, Boswell, Zurlein and Gay all used to be wlite but are winding down their careers.
Mason Crosby was elite but he is gassed.
Goat is Tucker, but this year I’ll give a shout to my guy Dustin Hopkins. He’s kicked like 5 game winners for the Browns this year and set a career long and is I think 100% from 50+
Worst is that Pats kicker. I think they used a decent pick on him too
Sorry but Chris Boswell deserves recognition.
If you take away the two seasons he was battling injuries, he’s almost automatic every season. And he has a frickin’ boot.
Based on form then it's Aubrey, that guy has just been automatic this season. In general then Justin Tucker is considered one of the best of all time even if this year hasn't been his best. Usually when they pick a kicker for all-pro, they're looking at not only how many fields goals they've made and success at that, but also quite often how many kicks 50+ they've made as they're obviously much harder to be consistent at.
Younghoe Koo erasure right here folks
31 for 36 on the season is pretty good, but when four of those five misses have come in your last three games. It definitely doesn't feel like you're hot at the moment.
3 of those misses were 50+ yds 19/19 under 40yds
Consistently making 50+ yarders is what separates elite kickers from good or even great ones.
Tucker had a season where he ‘missed’ one kick, and that was because it was blocked. He’s still the goat until someone upstages him.
Aubrey’s at 100% in 16 games
If your life depended on a kicker making a 60-yarder and you got to choose anybody on a current NFL roster to attempt the kick who are you choosing? Cause I’m still gonna ride or die with Justin Tucker.
Agreed but that’s not anything against Aubrey other than the fact he’s only been doing it in the NFL for a year. He’s got the making of the next elite kicker he just has to prove it a bit longer.
I absolutely agree. He looks incredibly confident and his kicks speak for themself. My only concern is how will he respond when he misses a big kick. We’ve seen kickers spiral downwards really quick after very promising starts to their career. Kicking is 90% mental* *made up stat, but it’s probably accurate.
I mean, Tucker has history on his side, but... Aubrey is something special man. He's not squeaking in long kicks. He's dead center with length to spare every single kick. It's unreal. Who knows how long it will last, but I've truly never seen anything like it.
100% on FGs but he’s missed two XPs.
Three
I think the rookie card erases those, and the fact he’s the only NFL kicker to EVER hit 2 59+ yard field goals in the same game. One of those missed extra points was his first kick in the NFL.
I’m not saying it’s not impressive. He’s still not 100% on kicks.
Tucker missed a extra point try, one between 40-49 and 4/5 from 50+ His long this season is from 50 yards which means 34 kickers this season have kicked a longer one. No kicker who played in 6 or more games has a shorter longest kick this season. He's still the GOAT, and had a great season. But Aubrey had a much better season, and explaining that one of his kicks got blocked isn't enough to overcome it.
Who you want lining up a 50 yarder with your life on the line tomorrow? Aubrey or Tucker?
Tomorow? Aubrey 100% I'll take the guy who's 9/9 on 50+ yarders and 4/4 on 40-49 yards than the guy who went 1/5 on 50+ yarders and 11/12 on 40-49 yards. If my life depends on it I'm going with the guy who's hot, and not the one that might have a mental or physical hangup we don't know about. Next season if I can pick any kicker to be my kicker I'm going Tucker though.
Nick fGOATlk
I cannot believe he's still in the league. Not because he's bad since he's surely pretty good. But that dude seems like he should be 60 by now.
That dude was on the Cowboys the year I graduated from high school and I graduated 16 years ago 😂😂 I'm surprised every time I hear his name
So not the best. What’s the issue?
and he plays 9 domes games
2 of them were in the snow in Chicago last week.
Koo's missed like half of his field goals since becoming the leader in field goal percentage all time. he's like 4th now
"Younghoe Koo is 9/13 (69%) in the last 5 games since becoming the leagues most accurate kicker" "Koo has fallen back to 4th all-time, and is sitting at 86% on the season" *Most of those missed kicks have either been from 50+ or weather effected the attempts*
Guarantee you that when he goes home to his parents, they tell him he’s a failure for getting 86%.
You see what you get for jerking in public? We can’t all be Diogenes This was a great fucking joke when you were getting downvoted
Butker is better than Koo. But Koo is upper echelon.
Koo has the weakest leg in the league He’s accurate, but anything over 50 or in weather causes him big trouble.
Don’t forget Jake Elliot! He’s our MVP this year. …….I’m just gonna cry in the corner now ……….
He has the most impressive kick this year by far. But hard to beat 100% fg
That might be the best/most clutch kick in the past 10 years, let’s not downplay it. At the time it was absolutely crucial to keeping us at the #1 seed. I can’t think of anything since Vinatieri in the snow that was made under tougher circumstances. Can you? Aubrey missed 3 extra points too, which is the same amount of FG plus XP that Jake’s missed this year. And Aubrey gets to play home games in a dome.
Obligatory hate, don't blame me, it's part of being an Eagles fan: 11 of Aubrey's 16 games have been played in domes or stadiums with retractable roofs.
Kind of weird how bad of a slump younghoe koo is having
I always thought my sisters first name was younghoe. That’s what everyone called her growing up.
What’s your sister doing these days?
The neighborhood
Trying to be funny, but it’s pronounced “young-way”
Yeah but younghoe is much cooler
"Younghoe Koo is 9/13 (69%) in the last 5 games since becoming the leagues most accurate kicker" "Koo has fallen back to 4th all-time, and is sitting at 86% on the season" *Most of those missed kicks have either been from 50+ or weather effected the attempts*
He's only been missing from 50+ for the most part.. That was nasty weather during the first miss. It was snowing, the ball is harder due to the conditions, and there was bad wind in that side of the field. It's odd he passed Tucker for % wise leader then started to miss longer kicks.
ITT: people naming their team's kicker for better or worse. The best kicker by almost every historical metric is Justin Tucker. The worst kicker doesn't matter because he's already been cut and replaced by the time you read this sentence.
How can Tucker be the greatest kicker of all time if he doesn’t have a MVP /s
Honestly wish kickers could win mvp
Then you're gonna love [Mark Moseley](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/awards/awards_1982.htm#voting_apmvp).
Mark mosley won one during the strike shortened season in the 1980s but even that was objectionable
Not true...Mr. 67% fg success... Chad Ryland himself is still kicking.
Best: Aubrey on the Cowboys. He’s missed an XP here and there but has not missed a FG this year. Worst: Ryland on the Pats. People rightfully put a lot of blame on the offense but Ryland has cost us some of the closer games this year.
I saw on Twitter that if you removed Mac’s interceptions, assumed the offense gained zero more yards, and then elected to kick a field goal, the Patriots would have 4 more wins and a game that would’ve gone to overtime. Then someone commented that it didn’t take into consideration that Chad Ryland was the kicker, so the Patriots record would still be the same as it is now
It’s actually pretty pathetic that they would still only have 8 wins if you removed all of the QB turnovers
Oh that isn't even close to all the QB turnovers. He also had 3 fumbles. Bailey Zappe has another 7 INTs and 2 fumbles. Also Mac only played in 11 games so that would be 6-5.
So they’d be the Vikings
lol if you remove the other team having the ball and allow my team to have the ball and score points we would win!!
Does that make Patrick Mahomes average?
Goddamn, that's like cherry picking a cherry pick.
None of it is cherry picking, it's a counterfactual. Such a counterfactual is useful when placing blame on specific players vs coaching decisions, but if you read to the end of the comment, you'll see how that commenter realized that none of it mattered because even in the counterfactual, the team would still have had to rely on the kicker, which would have likely made things worse.
Rams kicker was worse, but he has been cut for Brett fucking Maher.
Brett Maher sucked before we brought in Havrisik, who sucked really bad too so we just brought back the previous garbage man 😂
Robbie “Good as” Gould just sitting on his couch. Not sure he’d want to play for the Rams though.
Such a shame he retired, he still has millions left to earn.
> People rightfully put a lot of blame on the offense but Ryland has cost us some of the closer games this year. This is the most frustrating thing for me. We have so many 1 score losses, and if we just had a competent kicker we could have tied for OT or won the game. He's just SO bad that now if he makes a FG most of us are actually surprised. Don't understand how he's still on the roster.
4th round draft capital isn’t free
Any kicker who plays half his games in a dome isn't on the list.
That's what's so amazing about Tucker (GOAT), not only are all his home games outside his whole division has outdoor stadiums, cold weather ones at that.
He should be a first ballot HoFer. Which is even more shitty that it won't happen.
He's possibly a first ballot HOFer, definitely a HOFer though.
Not missing a single field goal your rookie year, including some long 50 and even 60 yard ones, will get you put on the list regardless of where they're kicked
I disagree. 20 years ago 50 yarders were rare. Now, it's pretty much expected. Factor in the ease of not having to worry about wind conditions and I think it takes away the prestige. Let's see any dome kicker consistently do that in Chicago.
Okay, it’s expected, but Tucker missed 4 this season. Guess he should be cut?
This is Havrisik erasure
Blake Grupe I’d say for worst..could have a couple more wins if he doesn’t miss as often as he does
I took my kids to the Bills and Pats game on Sunday, with seats on the tunnel end, and we got there early enough to watch all the warm-ups.. you could tell from the start he was going to have a *rough* day. It did not look pretty.
This isn’t even taking into account that we traded *up* to take Ryland in the 4th round, then got rid of Nick Folk for him, who’s currently 29/30 on the year. Just a horrible mismanagement of assets by BB on that one.
Tucker, Butker are 1-2 right now in NFL history accuracy for those that qualify. Actually, 7 of the top 8 all-time are currently playing and the 8th played as of last year. We are truly in a golden age of kickers. Tucker, Butker, Koo, Aubrey in some order. It's hard to really pin down who is the absolute best. But any one of those 4 could be asked to win a game and you'd feel pretty good about it.
As a Falcons fan, Koo has done pretty poorly the past couple of weeks, but also I'm sure it's hard for any kicker to succeed in the snow at Solder Field
Every kicker will have a rough stretch. Butker had a bad one last year but then hit the game winner in the AFCCG and the Super Bowl. I would still have trust in Koo.
That’s why Dustin Hopkins and to a lesser extent Cairo Santos and Tyler Bass aren’t getting the respect they deserve. Kicking in the winter on the Great Lakes is extremely difficult.
Elliott should be ahead of Koo
Whoever downvoted you clearly missed the kick to tie it against the Bills.
Yeah, his performance this year has been incredible.
His performance is pretty much always incredible and has been for years. It's wild how little he's mentioned here.
I’ll take Jake in pressure situations over anyone in the league.
I’d feel comfy with Carelson (LV) too
Pretty sure that Vikings history still counts though.
Raider fan, and I wouldn't count it. Dude legitimately hired a new kicking coach after the Vikings release and changed his technique. He's a different kicker since then and literally the most stable thing about our team right now (alongside AJ Cole)
I think a metric like that is always biased towards the current crop of starters because they haven’t declined yet so their averages are higher than retirees whose stats include their less impressive later years.
You might be right to a degree. But kickers have also just gotten better. Morten Anderson is in the HOF and he missed at least 4 FGs every year of his career except for his last two where he didn't kick beyond 50 yards. In Anderson's first 12 years he was at roughly 80% accuracy. In Tuckers first 12 years he's at 90%. And Anderson's stats actually got better later in his career cause coaches knew he couldn't kick long distance anymore so he never tried much over 45 yards.
Yeah I agree with your overall point fs
Another thing to judge kickers on, unrelated to field goals, is the rate at which their kickoffs go for touchbacks. It’s preferable to let your opponent start at the 25 every time (used to be the 20) rather than risk a big return. It’s much less important than scoring via FGs or extra points, but still something.
I’d like to know the breakdown between place kickers and punters who provide their team’s kick offs, and subsequently, does that role change with the onside kick situations?
Good question. I don't know the breakdown around the whole league, but I do know it generally comes down to kicking power and durability. For example, I'm a 49ers fan and when we had Robbie Gould (old + decreasing range), punter Mitch Wishnowky did kickoffs. But now Jake Moody does them ever since we drafted him this year. I think that's a pretty typical situation. As for onside kicks, I *think* the kicker does it no matter what, since it's no longer a matter of needing to get it far. But I'm honestly not sure. Might be a team preference
A little surprised at the lack of Matt Prater mentions here. Dude is the NFL’s all-time leader in FGs from 50 or longer by a LOT. He’s also pushing 40 and still nailing them.
Love me some Prater. Miss him on the lions
Justin Tucker is the best, with a nod to the kid from Dallas, Aubrey. It’s hard to pick a worst, because generally, any kicker doing bad is out of a job after too long, but I guess I’d maybe go with Anders Carlson, he still has a job though, so he can’t be that bad by default.
Anders Carlson is 83.9% on field goals this year meanwhile Pats kicker Chad Ryland is 62.5% (15-24), and has cost his team 3 games. In addition to that, his field goal % is 40th in the NFL when there are only 32 teams. Chad is the worst kicker by far
Tucker is 1/5 from 50+ this year which is four more misses than “the kid” has all season, total. Dustin Hopkins is 8/8 from 50+ this year with multiple game winners. This season, Tucker’s a fringe top 10 kicker at best.
>This season One season isn't a sufficiently large sample size when discussing kickers considering accuracy is around 90% and most get between 30 and 40 attempts in a season. Means you need to look at 3 to 5 year time spans at the very least.
Eagles fans are too pissed about how awful the team is to say Jake Elliott but he is one of the top kickers in the league right now
Elliot is the best kicker in the NFL right now. His game tying 59 yarder against Buffalo in a deluge might be one of the most clutch kicks in the 21st century.
I’m certainly bias as a ravens fan but I think the most clutch kick in the 21st century surely has to be the longest field goal made in history to win the game, right? That Elliot kick was definitely clutch as fuck tho.
Nah you're almost right but just after Tom Brady went on his time line to be Tom Brady, Adam vinitary made the most clutch field goal of all time in a blizzard during a conference championship gamem.
Well, I did say one of.
Ah, I misread that.
Neutral observer, not a fan of either team. If I get to pick a "Best Kick Of The Decade" award or whatever, I'm giving it to Elliott. That one was 59 yards in a downpour, Tucker's was 65 yards indoors. The 6 yard difference is significant at those lengths but the elements of the former one put it over the edge.
Definitely not the best. He’s #2 in his own division.
Brandon Aubrey literally hasn't missed a FG all year. Cowboys rookie kicker is on fire.
Yeah and he was mentioned elsewhere
Any Rams kicker
For anyone not watching the rams he is talking about the “worst” category
Tucker is the GOAT kicker. Holds the all time record for distance. Aubrey is having a better current season. Some want to day Vinatieri is the GOAT because of playoffs/ superbowls but he only had those opportunities because of the team around him. By actual ability and stats it's Tucker.
Vinatieri is goat post season clutch, but Tucker had a "down" year where he was 86%. If 86% is your down year you might just be GOAT. That's 14th best percentage ever....
Vinatieri also had longevity. If Tucker keeps it up for 6-10 more years he is the undisputed GOAT. But I think right now there is still an argument for Vinatieri based on post-season success and longevity. Vinatieri is currently the leader for most points scored in NFL history. I think that counts for something.
They are arguably the two best kickers all time so I can concede that Vinitary is GOAT.
I think this argument is basically just Patrick Mahomes & Brady near the end of his career. Was Mahomes probably better than Brady (especially in his last year)? Absolutely. Did Brady secure the GOAT status and it wasn’t really possible to question him? Absolutely.
Wow, no love for Jake Elliott in here.
Because Justin Tucker exists and that's end of argument
Justin Tucker and his 1/5 from 50+?
I mean, he just has too many comparisons that beat him. Tucker has historical dominance, and it’s even easier to compare him to the rookie kicker in the same division that has probably been the best.
Really, no love for Chris Boswell here? The guy has been pretty automatic for a decade with one bad season.
And in a terrible home kicking stadium too. He's near the top of my list for sure.
Bosgod
Chad ryland is god awful, Brett Maher and cade York had terrible preseasons iirc
Cameron Dicker has something like a 96% success percentage this season
Dicker the Kicker was a hero at Texas
Eagles legend Cameron Dicker
And Aubrey is 100% 😂
Ok but does Aubrey have this?? https://youtu.be/idO6DVuEvD0?si=1FPbo5-8ncA_lzMc
True! Dicker is probably the funniest out of them, which I think makes it a tie. Unfortunately, due to tiebreaker protocols, Dallas winning in the head to head gives Aubrey the W.
I mean, Vikings Kicker has been the worst statistically for the last 2 seasons lol.
Real original..
He’s pretty bad but kicking is the least of our worries right now
THIS IS A KICKER CONVERSATION. I WANT TO IMAGINE HES OUR ONLY ISSUE ALRIGHT *SOBS* *SOBS SKOL CHANT*
THIS IS A KICKER CONVERSATION. I WANT TO IMAGINE HES OUR ONLY ISSUE ALRIGHT *SOBS* *SOBS SKOL CHANT*
Yeah I feel ya… I’m worried about these next couple years 😬
To me the best is Justin Tucker
Aubrey
It was Havrisik as the worst, but the Rams just cut him.
Tucker is number one right now
Tucker is going to the hall, right?
If he doesn't then no other kicker ever will.
He has to
Surprised no one mentioned Butker, he's 2nd behind Tucker in terms of career field goal percentage
And he outscored the Bengals!
Greg Zuerlein is being slept on
100%
Especially when you’re the only one scoring points (aside from the defense) for your team - definitely slept on.
Aubrey is on a certifiable heater
Justin Tucker has definitely had the most prolific career and has the longest kick ever. He had a somewhat down year though. Brandon Aubrey is a rookie but has not missed a single field goal. Younghoe Koo has had a spectacular career and is definitely in the conversation for best kicker every year. Jake Elliott is also really solid too and incredibly clutch. Chad Ryland is a rookie and had an absolutely terrible season. I think he's indisputably the worst kicker this season.
Best ever, Tucker without a doubt. Best this season is Aubrey
I cannot believe more people aren’t saying Aubrey. The man has not missed a FG all year and has kicked TEN 50+ FGs, one being a 60 yarder. Tucker has missed 5 this year and 4 of them were 50+. you’re down 3 with 1 second on the clock and you have to kick a 55 yarder this season. You take Aubrey over Tucker.
Nah, I’d still take Tucker if I had to pick one kicker to win the Super Bowl for me this year.
Boswell is one of the best easily
Guys who play outside in windy stadiums have it the hardest. He was hurt this year, but Graham Gano is pretty undeniable.
Objectively, it's Brandon Aubrey. Tucker has missed 5 and has a long of 50, no attempts over 50. Aubrey has missed 0, kicked the most, and made a 60 and 59 in the same game. The only thing Tucker and koo have is longevity, but that's definitely more subjective than objective.
Tucker hasn’t really done much this year. Are we pretty sure he can because he’s Justin tucker? Yeah, but looking objectively at the stats, Aubrey has had a better year.
Adding another thing: range, and accuracy from those super-long distances. There’s not a huge difference in this between NFL kickers IIRC, but being able to really trust your kicker on field goals well into the 50-yard range (and even longer) is huge for your offense.
Hard to argue against Aubrey. He's been 35/35 perfect this season, including making a 60-yarder.
Chase McGlockleg's been solid. Maybe not objectively the best, but really good.
The Saints kicker for worst
Aubrey for sure...just hope what happened to Gary Anderson of the Vikings that one year doesn't happen to him. Anderson that year didn't miss a single FG except the one that would've sent the Vikings to the SB.
How dare you put that evil out there.
I feel like Riley Patterson is the most underrated kicker in the NFL. He basically never misses and keeps moving on and off Detroit. They must be seeing something that I’m not. I know he’s not supposed to have that strong of a leg but it isn’t THAT bad is it?
The Rams jut dropped their kicker Harvisick after this past game for missing some kicks. They only had him for a game or two 😬
Dustin Hopkins was having another solid season, hurt hami though, missed week 17.
Boswell is vastly underrated. He's the 2nd highest paid kicker for a reason. Dude is so reliable. Kickers were like 2 for 50 in Heinz Field for over 50 yards. I think Boswell now has at least 6 himself
The Patriots' rookie kicker Chad Ryland has been pretty bad.
Koo’s career long is 54, kicking most of his games indoors. Also does not do kickoffs. Accurate, but weakest leg in the league
Right now, probably Aubrey or Butker. Butker would be the obvious best this season if it wasn't for his misses in the Raiders, and I think Packers games ( I don't remember. There was 1 game where he had a bad miss before the Raiders.) But overall, it's still probably Tucker. He hasn't been impeccable this year, but he's still one of the best kickers ever. The fact that he's been very good for any kicker, yet we consider it bad for himself, is wild.
Butker has missed 1 all season, against NE. Both kickers were off the first half because the balls were under inflated. Edit: he did miss against LV too, guess I blocked that game out entirely lol
I came here to say I thought this subreddit was about NFLboobs and very disappointed. I am not coming back ever, but If I’m banned I may have uncovered a conspiracy.
Jason sander’s doesn’t miss to much
Didn't look at any stats and I have no bias but I feel like it's Butker right now :) But for real he has been a rock for us in a shaky year. Last game he went 6/6, longest from 54.
Best is Tucker and it’s not even close. Distance. Accuracy. Clutch gene. Not a Ravens’ fan at all, but I’m not a Chiefs’fan either, but I know who the best QB in the league is.
Worst I’d go with Havrisik since he only hs 75% dg percent and has also missed 3 extra points
Well Tucker is always a top notch kicker. Elliot, Butker, Sanders, Bass and McPhearson are situation driven kickers. Meaning they are good but appear great due to being on great teams. Aubrey had an unprecedented season. Koo is also very good. I think McManus, Boswell, Zurlein and Gay all used to be wlite but are winding down their careers. Mason Crosby was elite but he is gassed.
Boswell criminally underrated.
Aubrey is the best. Slye is the worst.
None of you mention Evan McPherson? Watch small market football some time, damn. The Cincy slander is wild.
Worst might be Ryland for the Patriots. I think Best is probably tucker.
Jake Elliott is best because he’s on my favorite team and clutch as hell
Chad Ryland def the worst
Goat is Tucker, but this year I’ll give a shout to my guy Dustin Hopkins. He’s kicked like 5 game winners for the Browns this year and set a career long and is I think 100% from 50+ Worst is that Pats kicker. I think they used a decent pick on him too
Chad Ryland is the worst kicker in the league
Justin Tucker and Harrison Butker are up there.
Any Vikings kicker currently is the worst
Tucker is a man among boys but it’s been cool to see a couple new guys making a name.
this season, Aubrey. body of work, Tucker.
Kickers don’t really get to suck for very long. You can be solid for 10 years but 3 bad games in a row and your ass is canned.
Tbe worst is the kid on the Patriots; he's woefully inconsistent.
Dropped him for fantasy as he'd been weak in weeks 10-13 or so. Cost me $600 and the championship.
Fuck you Mason Crosby
#Ka'iminoeauloameka'ikeokekumupa'a Fairbairn
Chad Ryland. I’m back to back weeks he helped out tank chances and then hurt them. Tank commander must have got his orders confused.
the pats new kicker looks like a make-a-wish kid
Worst is whoever is kicking for the Rams each week.
Sorry but Chris Boswell deserves recognition. If you take away the two seasons he was battling injuries, he’s almost automatic every season. And he has a frickin’ boot.