Fantasy Index

Factoid

Rookie kickers

Three 6th-round picks used on kickers

Three kickers went in the sixth round of the draft. When a team uses a selection on that position, it’s with the expectation that he’ll probably win the job.

I would think Will Reichard (picture) will be kicking for the Vikings. He’s unusually experienced for a rookie, having attempted 100 field goals at Alabama. He connected on 80 of his last 93 there, making me think he’ll be fine. He’s college football’s all-time leading scorer, and he’s attempted a lot of pressue kicks in big games.

Joshua Karty, however, is the one that interests me more for fantasy purposes, with Sean McVay tending to put together kicker-friendly offenses. He’s been there for seven years, and three of those teams ranked in the top 3 in kicker. The Rams should have done it again last year but missed a league-high 38 points of kicks. If Karty can make the kicks (and he was just fine at Stanford), I think he’ll be a top-5 kicker.

Cam Little is the other option, and he looks like more of a camp-battle guy, competing against Riley Patterson.

Draft history indicates that when a kicker is selected in the last three rounds of the draft, he’s got about a 50-50 chance of sticking around for a while. In the 32-team era, 34 have been selected in rounds 5-7, and 18 have kicked more than half the season in their first year. That includes three notable kickers who ended up with new teams before October – Harrison Butker, Jake Elliott and Daniel Carlson.

Of these 34 kickers, 11 scored 110-plus points in their first season – about 1 in 3 (and I’ve got those guys flagged with black dots).

As group, these kickers made 81 percent of their field goal attempts in their first season. There’s a self-selection bias of sorts in that number, with the guys who were missing kicks tending to be replaced.

KICKERS IN LAST THREE ROUNDS OF DRAFT
YearPlayerRdSchoolGXP-XPAFG-FGAPts
2002Hayden Epstein, Jac.7Michigan613-135-928
2003• Josh Brown, Sea.7Nebraska1648-4822-30114
2004Josh Scobee, Jac.5Louisiana Tech1621-2124-3193
2004David Kimball, Ind.7Penn State00-00-00
2005Dave Rayner, Ind.6Michigan State140-00-10
2005Paul Ernster, Den.7Northern Arizona10-00-00
2006Kurt Smith, S.D.6Virginia00-00-00
2007• Mason Crosby, G.B.6Colorado1648-4831-39141
2007• Nick Folk, Dal.6Arizona1653-5326-31131
2007Justin Medlock, K.C.5UCLA10-01-23
2008Taylor Mehlhaff, N.O.6Wisconsin59-103-418
2008Brandon Coutu, Sea.7Georgia00-00-00
2009Ryan Succop, K.C.7South Carolina1629-2925-29104
2009David Buehler, Dal.5Southern Cal160-00-00
2012• Blair Walsh, Min.6Georgia1636-3635-38141
2012Greg Zuerlein, St.L.6Missouri Western1626-2623-3195
2012John Potter, Buf.7Western Michigan60-00-00
2012Randy Bullock, Hou.5Texas A&M00-00-00
2013• Caleb Sturgis, Mia.5Florida1633-3326-34111
2013Dustin Hopkins, Buf.6Florida State00-00-00
2014Nate Freese, Det.7Boston College36-63-715
2014Zach Hocker, Was.7Arkansas00-00-00
2017• Harrison Butker, Car. (K.C.)7Georgia Tech1328-2838-42142
2017• Jake Elliott, Cin. (Phi.)5Memphis1539-4226-31117
2017Zane Gonzalez, Cle.7Arizona State1625-2615-2070
2018Jason Sanders, Mia.7New Mexico1635-3618-2089
2018Daniel Carlson, Min. (Mn.-Oak.)5Auburn1224-2417-2175
2019• Matt Gay, T.B.5Utah1643-4827-35124
2019Austin Seibert, Cle.5Oklahoma1630-3525-29105
2020• Tyler Bass, Buf.6Georgia Southern1657-5928-34141
2020Sam Sloman, LAR (Rams-Ten.)7Miami (Ohio)823-2610-1353
2020Justin Rohrwasser, N.E.5Marshall00-00-00
2021• Evan McPherson, Cin.5Florida1646-4828-33130
2023• Anders Carlson, G.B.6Auburn1734-3927-33115
2024Cam Little, Jac.6Arkansas????
2024Joshua Karty, LAR6Stanford????
2024Will Reichard, Min.6Alabama????

—Ian Allan

2 Reader Comments:

Howie Fishman

Hermosa Beach, CA
2024-05-08T15:08:25Z
Due to recent success of XFL kickers, might be a fun story researching their prospects as potential NFL kickers

Ian Allan

Seattle, WA
2024-05-08T15:27:13Z
I struggle to keep the names of the other leagues straight, but there have been some kickers who've gone that route. Brandon Aubrey, most recently, didn't play college football but spent two seasons with the Birmingham Stallions. There's a kicker with the current Michigan Panthers, Jake Bates, who keeps hitting 60-yard field goals.
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