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Factoid

Rookie kickers

Quick hook common for struggling kickers

A bunch of teams are going with young or unproven kickers. If history is any indication, some of these players won’t last the season. At the NFL level, you have to make the kicks or they get rid of you in a hurry.

Quinn Nordin, Tristan Vizcaino (pictured), Matt Ammendola and Ryan Santoso all come to mind. None of these guys were NFL-caliber kickers at the college level. (Nordin and Vizcaino are notable in that they play for pretty good teams now, with some potential to finish as top-10 scorers if things break right.)

Also on the accuracy watch list: Evan McPherson, Chase McLaughlin, Greg Joseph and Sam Ficken.

I was playing around with some of these numbers this morning. In the last 10 years, 38 rookie kickers have debuted in Week 1. Eight of those kickers were gone before the second half of the season (with black dots in the chart). Only eight were still around after three seasons.

Seven of the kickers mentioned are still active and with their initial team, and I’ve got them bold.

I listed eight kickers by name, and four of them aren’t rookies (they have limited experience). But I’m bringing them into the discussion because they haven’t done enough yet to get over the hump, establishing themselves as accepted NFL options.

In the chart below, you’re looking at rookie kickers, and how they fared in their first NFL games. The final column shows the number of games the player lasted with his original team before he was replaced (for the guys in bold, they’ll add to those games on Sunday).

ROOKIE KICKERS DEBUTING IN WEEK 1
YearPlayerOppResultXPFGPtsG
2011Dan Bailey, DALat NYJL 24-273-31-16108
2011Alex Henery, PHIat STLW 31-134-41-1748
2012Justin Tucker, BALCINW 44-135-53-314144
2012Greg Zuerlein, STLat DETL 23-272-23-311119
2012Blair Walsh, MINJAXW 26-232-24-41473
2012• John Potter, BUFat NYJL 28-480-00-006
2013Randy Bullock, HOUat SDGW 31-284-41-2735
2013Caleb Sturgis, MIAat CLEW 23-102-23-31132
2014Brandon McManus, DENINDW 31-244-41-17110
2014Cairo Santos, KANTENL 10-261-11-2451
2014Chandler Catanzaro, ARISDGW 18-170-02-2648
2014Cody Parkey, PHIJAXW 34-174-42-21019
2014Patrick Murray, TAMCARL 14-202-20-0216
2014• Nate Freese, DETNYGW 35-143-32-393
2015Jason Myers, JAXCARL 9-200-11-2338
2015Andrew Franks, MIAat WASW 17-102-21-1532
2015Josh Lambo, SDGDETW 33-283-42-2932
2015Travis Coons, CLEat NYJL 10-311-11-1416
2015• Zach Hocker, NORat ARIL 19-311-14-4136
2015• Kyle Brindza, TAMTENL 14-422-20-024
2016Wil Lutz, NOROAKL 34-354-42-41080
2016Roberto Aguayo, TAMat ATLW 31-244-41-1716
2017Ka'imi Fairbairn, HOUJAXL 7-291-10-0164
2017Aldrick Rosas, NYGat DALL 3-190-01-1348
2017Zane Gonzalez, CLEPITL 18-211-11-1418
2017Giorgio Tavecchio, OAKat TENW 26-162-24-41416
2017• Younghoe Koo, LACat DENL 21-243-30-134
2018Jason Sanders, MIATENW 27-203-32-2948
2018Brett Maher, DALat CARL 8-160-00-1029
2018• Daniel Carlson, MINSFOW 24-163-31-162
2019Joey Slye, CARLARL 27-303-32-3932
2019Austin Seibert, CLETENL 13-431-20-0118
2019Eddy Pineiro, CHIGNBL 3-100-01-1316
2019Matt Gay, TAMSFOL 17-312-21-1516
2019• Kaare Vedvik, NYJBUFL 16-170-10-101
2020Rodrigo Blankenship, INDat JAXL 20-272-22-3816
2020Tyler Bass, BUFNYJW 27-173-32-4916
2020• Sam Sloman, LARDALW 20-172-22-388

Statistics compiled using search tools at Pro-Football-Reference.com

—Ian Allan

Fantasy Index