NFL Kickers better than ever
I found the article below to be a fantastic read. It was written on 10/30/24 by
Brooke Pryor, ESPN Staff Writer, as viewed at
www.espn.com
Excerpts:
Why NFL kickers are more accurate than ever
"It's the evolution of the craft," said Brian Egan, Aubrey's private kicking coach. "There's more skill-specific coaches. The trainers are getting better, the workouts are getting better. Everything that's going into it now, kids are starting to train younger. I just think you're seeing the evolution on full display right now, where it's come in the last 10, 15 years to where it is now."
KICKERS ARE MORE accurate than they've been in decades -- and with historic ranges -- but it's not because they weren't previously able to hit long-range field goals. Rather, Boswell said, coaches are finally trusting them in moments where analytics might've told them to punt the ball and play field position.
"It goes back to coaches watching us in practice -- that we attempt them in practice," Boswell said. "We warm up from 60 in practice, we hit with a team from 60 in practice. So the more he sees that, the more confident he's willing to go out.
THE EXPLANATION FOR the NFL's kicking renaissance isn't a mystery to longtime special teams guru Danny Smith.
"The length hasn't changed," said Smith, who's spent the past 13 seasons coaching the Steelers' special teams unit. "The field hasn't changed. So what has changed? The quality of the kicker. The quality of the operation. They spend a lot of time together. They take very much pride in their craft and they work their butts off on it.
"All these snappers', all these holders', all these kickers' numbers are up, to their credit, and it's not a puzzling question to me. ... These guys are special, man, and they deserve a lot of credit throughout this league as specialists."
Once an afterthought for backup quarterbacks, holder duties started to be reassigned to punters early in the 2010s as an emphasis on special teams grew and specialists started to practice together. Replacing the backup quarterback with the punter kept the team from having to pull the quarterback away from other parts of practice.
The extra practice reps between the punter, kicker and long-snapper also reduced the possibility of costly in-game holding snafus -- remember
Tony Romo and the 2006 NFC wild-card round?
"The specialization of the holding has really helped," Dicker said. "It just makes life easier for kickers. You don't have to think. The punter has more time to practice the hold than a backup quarterback all day long. They've got other things to worry about, more important things than making sure that, 'Hey, is this the right distance for me to catch it?'"
ANOTHER ELEMENT CONTRIBUTING to increases in accuracy and range, Seibert said,
is the longer extra points. Moved from 20 to 33 yards in 2015, extra point makes are no longer forgone conclusions.
The longer extra points are something like quality control checks for kickers during the game, Seibert said.
Other kickers and coaches suggested
the dynamic kickoff, a rule for the 2024 season, could be positively impacting field goal attempts because some teams are opting to have their kickers place the ball in the 20-yard landing zone to force a return instead of drilling the obligatory touchback.
"We don't have the same 10-yard approach and smash the ball and all that mindset anymore." Boswell said. "I mean, if you kick it three yards deep and they return it, cool. If they don't, cool. Some teams are still smashing, so they're still going to have the wear and tear. It takes a lot off your leg throughout the week, and so maybe game day you're a lot more fresh if you're one of the teams that aren't just blasting kickoffs day after day."
SINCE STARTING HIS own venture working with kickers in the Dallas area in 2016, Egan has seen his clients get younger and younger.
Now, his youngest kicker is 10 years old.
Egan supposes the youth movement is for a couple reasons: It's a safer position in a sport that's rife with concussion concerns, kickers are getting bigger contracts and, quite simply, kicking is cool.
Full Article In Link Below:
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id...brandon-aubrey-cowboys-chris-boswell-steelers