Fantasy Index

header banner img
OUR FANTASY BASEBALL MAGAZINE IS BACK! PRE-ORDER NOW
Win here.

Around the NFL

Good as Gould

Robbie Gould hangs up cleats after 18 seasons

Robbie Gould announced his retirement on Thursday. He bagged a lot of field goals during his 18 years in the league. He also serves as evidence that the kicker position is one better addressed in free agency rather than the draft.

Gould, Justin Tucker, Adam Vinatieri, Phil Dawson. All entered the league not through the draft but as undrafted free agents. In Gould’s case, he kicked collegiately at Penn State. He played 11 seasons with the Bears, with one Super Bowl appearance. After playing 10 games with the Giants in 2016, he spent his final six seasons with the 49ers, with another Super Bowl season.

Gould converted 36 of his 51 career attempts from 50-plus, which was outstanding for his era. Most impressively, he made all 68 of his postseason kicks (39 extra points and 29 field goals, including 4 from 50-plus). Vinatieri tends to be overhyped as “the best clutch kicker in the history of the game”, but he made only 56 of his 69 field goal attempts in playoff games (82 percent).

But I digress. The point here is that NFL teams can find kickers. In the 32-team era (since 2002) there have been 39 kickers who’ve kicked at least 200 field goals. Of those 39, only 14 entered the league through the college player draft (I’ve got those guys tagged with black dots).

KICKERS WITH 200 FIELD GOALS (since 2002)
PlayerRdFGMFGAPct
Robbie GouldFA44751786.5%
Adam VinatieriFA43951685.1%
Matt BryantFA39746485.6%
Phil DawsonFA39747284.1%
• Mason Crosby6th39548581.4%
Matt PraterFA39347183.4%
• Stephen Gostkowski4th39245486.3%
• Sebastian Janikowski1st39148281.1%
Justin TuckerFA38442789.9%
• Nick Folk6th37745183.6%
David AkersFA32840581.0%
Graham GanoFA32438783.7%
• Ryan Succop7th32038682.9%
• Josh Brown7th31938083.9%
• Greg Zuerlein6th31838383.0%
Jay FeelyFA30336583.0%
Shayne GrahamFA27131685.8%
Rian LindellFA27132882.6%
• Mike Nugent2nd26532781.0%
Stephen HauschkaFA26431085.2%
Jason HansonFA25630085.3%
Dan BaileyFA24929085.9%
Brandon McManusFA24730281.8%
• Josh Scobee5th24130180.1%
Rob BironasFA23927985.7%
Dan CarpenterFA23628184.0%
• Neil Rackers6th23528183.6%
Ryan LongwellFA23027284.6%
• John Kasay4th23027583.6%
Chris BoswellFA22525986.9%
Jason MyersFA22025984.9%
Olindo MareFA22027879.1%
• Dustin Hopkins6th22025785.6%
• Randy Bullock5th21425683.6%
Jeff ReedFA21325982.2%
Shaun SuishamFA21125184.1%
Cairo SantosFA20824485.2%
Matt StoverFA20423586.8%
• Jason Elam3rd20124382.7%

—Ian Allan

Fantasy Index