What’s the deal with kickers? It seems like they’re way more susceptible to injuries than they used to be.
It used to be that one could draft a kicker onto a fantasy team with confidence that he would remain in the lineup for the entire season. Nowadays, the number of such players is rare. It seems way more common in today’s game for kickers to tweak an ankle, hip, groin or knee.
Except for Mason Crosby (pictured) and Justin Tucker; those guys seem to be immune to such injuries, having played 16 and 11 reasons, respectively, without missing a game.)
In five of the last six seasons, at least 10 teams have used multiple kickers. That didn’t happen in the past. That’s different than the past. In the previous 15 years, there were only two such seasons. I see seven seasons from 2002-2016 where only 3-5 teams used multiple kickers.
I can’t figure it out. With kicking proficiency rising every year and teams knowing more about training and nutrition, you would think there would be fewer changes at the position. Instead, it’s been the opposite.
| TEAMS USING 2 PKs | |
|---|---|
| Year | Teams |
| 2002 | 7 |
| 2003 | 7 |
| 2004 | • 5 |
| 2005 | 10 |
| 2006 | • 4 |
| 2007 | • 4 |
| 2008 | 6 |
| 2009 | 10 |
| 2010 | 9 |
| 2011 | • 5 |
| 2012 | 6 |
| 2013 | • 3 |
| 2014 | • 4 |
| 2015 | 9 |
| 2016 | • 5 |
| 2017 | 10 |
| 2018 | 11 |
| 2019 | 8 |
| 2020 | 10 |
| 2021 | 12 |
| 2022 | 10 |
—Ian Allan