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Factoid

Elite kickers

Can Zuerlein keep it up?

What should we make of the likes of Greg Zuerlein and Harrison Butker? These guys had huge seasons last year, but can they be counted on to do it again in 2018? Or is this just a luck-driven position?

Stephen Gostkowski is also part of this discussion, but the Patriots are a little different in that they’ve proven they can do it year after year. New England (I think) has won the AFC East 23 years in a row. Four times in the last seven years the Patriots have had huge kicking seasons, then come back the next year and led the league in kicking points. So I am putting them to the side as a separate entity.

Look instead at the other 28 teams that have scored at least 140 kicking points in a season in this century. Of that group, exactly half have come back the next year and ranked in the top 10 in kicking points. Half have finished outside the top 10, which is less than what you were hoping for.

Of the 28 teams only 8 have come back the next year and ranked in the top 5, which is more of what you’re looking for. Pretty disappointing.

TEAMS WITH 140+ KICKING POINTS (the next year)
YearTeamPtsNextRk
2017LA Rams168??
2011• San Francisco16613110
2003St. Louis 1638926
2017Kansas City 163??
2016• Atlanta1581378
2003• Indianapolis 1571243t
2017New England 156??
2014Philadelphia 15010523
2013Denver 15012811t
2008• NY Giants1491265t
2005• Arizona1491168t
2005NY Giants14810716t
2011New Orleans 14711122
2009• San Diego 1461293t
2015Carolina 14612115
2012NY Giants14510026t
2017San Francisco145??
2008• Philadelphia 1441392
2013San Diego 14410623t
2006• Chicago 1431267
2013• Seattle 1431344t
2010Philadelphia 14311816t
2012Atlanta14311122t
2010• Oakland 14212910
2017Pittsburgh 142??
2016• Baltimore1411416
2013• Green Bay 1411344t
2007• Green Bay 1411277t
2012Minnesota 14112115
2017Baltimore141??
2013• Baltimore14012910
2013San Francisco14010820
2014Indianapolis 14010720
2011Green Bay 14011321
2017New Orleans 140??

Patriots are their own deal. They tend to crank out the kicking points year after year.

PATRIOTS WITH 140+ KICKING POINTS
YearTeamPtsNextRk
2015New England 1511278t
2014New England 1561511
2013New England 1581561
2012New England 1531581
2011New England 1431531
2008New England 1481257
2004New England 14110119

—Ian Allan

Fantasy Index