The NFL is an ever-evolving league — constantly gaining faster and more powerful players, more dynamic play calling and new rules. Yet one fixture stands true: the field goal.
Despite kickers becoming more accurate and long-range kicks being used more liberally, the field goal remains the purest test of composure in the NFL. Attempts to make it harder wouldn’t significantly change the pressure and drama that makes it an essential part of football.
Even in a league full of athletic freaks, the kicker and his role have stood the test of time and continue to decide outcomes and make history. On Nov. 2, during the Jaguars-Raiders game, Jaguars’ kicker Cam Little lined up to kick a 68-yarder as the first half clock expired.
Before the kick, Little told his holder, Logan Cooke, “I’m going to hit this ball as hard as I can.” Moments later, he pounded his chest and received pats on the helmet by his teammates in celebration.
Little’s 68-yard field goal made history as the longest field goal ever in the NFL.
While Little’s moment remained nothing short of spectacular, it also became part of a growing trend this season. As of week nine of the NFL season, there have been seven 60-plus yard field goals. The previous record for 60-plus yard field goals in a season held at five in 2022 and 2023, showing how increasingly regular long-range kicks have become.
One reason for this spike? A new rule regarding the breaking in of kicking balls.
In past years, kickers received three new footballs at the beginning of each game, which gave them limited time to break in the balls. This year, each team got 60 kicking balls at the start of the season that they could break in throughout the year.
Even with some adaptation to kicking balls this year, I still believe no play in the game is purer than a field goal. No gimmicks or trickery can replace the feeling of a football sailing through the uprights as the clock winds to zero — no matter how easy or common it’s become.
NFL kickers have become so well-versed in field goals that last year the league-wide field goal percentage was 84% — 6% better than last year’s NBA’s league-wide free throw percentage. The difference is significant, as basketball free throws are much easier and common than field goals in the NFL. This helps explain why many want to make field goals more difficult.
Last season, the competition committee looked at the possibility of narrowing goal posts, according to an NFL executive. While they didn’t enact any new rules, the chatter itself spoke to the league’s recognition of how skilled kickers have become and the frustration that field goals have gotten too easy.
But if kickers have gotten so good to the point where NFL executives are discussing making kicks harder, why are we constantly hearing about the misses? Again, take the same Jaguars-Raiders game: Just one minute prior to Little’s record-setting kick, Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson missed a PAT.
Moments like this serve as another reminder of what makes the kick so special: their unpredictability. When the game comes down to three points or less, stadiums still fall silent, thousands of fans still bite their nails and coaches still hold their breath.
Kickers may be more accurate than ever, but that doesn’t mean that field goals have lost their edge. It’s not the difficulty of the kick that makes field goals what they are — it’s the moment of both simplicity and immense pressure.
In a league obsessed with flashiness, the kick is the purest test of composure. It’s the one element that keeps the NFL grounded and reminds us that amid the drama some things are better left as they are.