Kickers taken in the NFL draft
rarely have long-term success with their original teams
[September 01, 2026]
By STEVE MEGARGEE
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Green Bay Packers rookie Trey Smack’s
preseason performance indicates he has what it takes to stick around
for several years with the team that just drafted him.
But the sixth-round pick from Florida must buck history to do it.
There’s perhaps no other position with less of a correlation between
a player’s draft status and his long-term success.
Just three of the 16 kickers drafted from 2016-23 stayed with their
original teams for at least three full seasons. The only one who
remains with the team that selected him is Cincinnati’s Evan
McPherson, a 2021 fifth-round pick from Florida.
“With all players coming into the National Football League, it takes
a little time,” Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said. “At
the other positions … you have probably a little more grace period
to develop. Whereas as a kicker, you don’t. So you see a lot of
those guys bounce around before they catch on.”
Indeed, plenty of those kickers who got drafted from 2016-23 have
enjoyed productive NFL careers. Kansas City’s Harrison Butker is a
three-time Super Bowl champion. Philadelphia’s Jake Elliott was on
two Super Bowl-winning teams and made a Pro Bowl. Daniel Carlson
earned All-Pro honors for Las Vegas in 2022.
They found success only after switching teams.
Butker lost a training camp battle in Carolina and Elliott did the
same in Cincinnati before they landed in their current spots.
Carlson played just two games for Minnesota in 2018 before getting
cut.
“It’s a weird phenomenon,” former Packers kicker Mason Crosby said.
“But I do feel like coming out of college, adjusting to the NFL, the
ball, the timing, the speed of the game, all the pressure — all of
those things — it just doesn’t always work out in that first run.”
Crosby is an exception. He spent 16 years with Green Bay and became
the Packers’ all-time leading scorer after they selected him out of
Colorado in the sixth round of the 2007 draft.
But he understands why other drafted kickers haven’t had that kind
of staying power. One major reason is the ball itself.
Adjusting to how the NFL differs from the NCAA
The NCAA and NFL don't have the same size requirements for their
footballs. That caused a tough transition for Arizona Cardinals
kicker Chad Ryland, who went to the New England Patriots in the
fourth round of the 2023 draft but was cut a year later.
“A college ball’s a little bit smaller than the NFL ball, so with
that come different factors in how the wind affects the movement of
the ball, how mis-hits work,” Ryland said. “You can’t quite get away
with as much with the NFL ball, which is why becoming a good ball
striker is such a high valued thing in the NFL. It’s not just having
a big leg.”
The hash marks also are positioned differently. They’re 40 feet
apart in college. In the NFL, they’re separated by 18½ feet,
matching the distance between the uprights.
Crosby says that forces NFL kickers to adjust to subtler and
trickier angles.
“Think of a golf course,” said Crosby, who now hosts a show on the
Wisconsin Sports Radio Network. “If you’ve got a hard dogleg left,
you can cut over the trees. That angle seems simpler than whenever
it’s just a slight, subtle dogleg, and you have to try that little
perfect-angled shot to get in prime position.”
In the NFL, the games also are tighter. According to Sportradar, NFL
games last year had an average margin of 11.2 points last year,
compared to 16.4 points for college games featuring two FBS
opponents.
[to top of second column] |
Green Bay Packers place kicker Trey Smack kicks with Daniel Whelan
holding a preseason NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals
Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Matt Ludtke)
“It’s that first just like initial shock of like
how serious this is and how close games are,” said Las Vegas kicker
Matt Gay, who lasted just one season in Tampa Bay after the
Buccaneers selected him in the fifth round of the 2019 draft. “And I
think it just takes a second to get your feet wet, get a little
comfortable. I think those expectations with the team that drafts
you, you feel it.
“And then almost like once you get released or go somewhere else,
it’s like you can kind of decompress a little bit and it’s like,
‘Oh, what just happened?’ And guys find their feet on that next
team.”
NFL accuracy rate leaves no room for error
Veteran kickers also have become so proficient that anyone breaking
into the league can’t afford to start slowly.
Sportradar says NFL kickers made 85.6% of their field-goal attempts
last season, including 84.3% from 40-49 yards out and 68.8% from at
least 50 yards. FBS kickers made 76.6% of their field goals,
including 67% from 40-48 yards and just 51.8% from at least 50.
“It’s just a new environment,” Smack said. “You haven’t been there
before. You don’t know what to expect. As young kickers, we try to
resolve the equation of how to kick in the NFL and we think of it as
different, since we did well in college, now we’re at a whole new
level where everybody’s the best of the best in the NFL. How can we
get better? This is one of the positions where it’s kind of like,
you don’t need to get better. You just need to swing your swing and
trust your process.”
There are indications this trend could be changing.
Four of the five kickers drafted from 2024-25 remain with their
original teams, though the Los Angeles Rams cut 2024 sixth-round
pick Joshua Karty last November. That group includes 2025 All-Pro
Will Reichard of Minnesota.
Smack, the only kicker drafted this year, went 9 of 9 on preseason
field-goal attempts and made three from at least 50 yards, with a
long of 59. The Packers want him to stabilize their kicking
situation, which has been a problem ever since they moved on from
Crosby.
Anders Carlson, a 2023 sixth-round pick, lasted one season. Brayden
Narveson opened 2024 as the Packers’ main kicker but stayed for just
six games before giving way to Brandon McManus. The Packers are
switching kickers again after McManus missed two field goals and an
extra-point attempt in a 31-27 playoff loss at Chicago.
“Hopefully, we can have some patience,” Gutekunst said. “I stood up
here and told you I always envied (former Packers general manager)
Ted (Thompson) because he had a lot of patience with Mason as he was
going through the things that he went through early and late in the
middle of his career. He just, he had a conviction there, and we
certainly do with Trey as well.”
___
AP sports writers Mark Anderson, David Brandt and Kyle Hightower
contributed to this report.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
