What is an average NFL kicker’s salary and who is the highest paid in the league in 2024?

While Americans abroad will endure the unending jibes of those who point out that the name “football” is unsuited to a game where the foot is rarely in contact with the ball, the fact is that the name of the game, and ALL football games worldwide, stems from the fact that the players are on foot, i.e., not on a horse, rather than touching the ball with their feet. The same holds for rugby football, association football, Australian football, Gaelic football, and any other variant of the game that features the name.

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It is true that when Americans were first introduced to rugby, they immediately began changing the rules, gently at first, and then with more enthusiasm, so that the kicking element has gradually been eroded in the American version, separating it from its rugby roots to the point where it is now seen as an almost anachronistic part of the game.

Originally, kicking a goal was the only way to score, and the touchdown, known in rugby as a “try,” gave the offensive team the right to “try” and score a point by kicking the ball through the uprights. Realizing that the touchdown was the more difficult of the two elements in the game, points were then attached to it while still leaving the original kicking try, now known as the “point after touchdown,” intact.

The drop kick has been rarely used in recent decades due to the reformation of the shape of the ball to allow for more streamlined forward passes, although it is still a legal play. A movement is underway to remove the kickoff from the game altogether, leaving only the punt and field goal as the remaining elements connecting the NFL to its past.

Who is the highest-paid NFL kicker?

It’s no surprise that Justin Tucker of the Baltimore Ravens, renowned as the most accurate field goal kicker in NFL history, a member of the 2010s all-decade team, and a likely future Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, has the highest salary among his fellow kickers.

Tucker secured this title by signing a four-year, $24 million contract extension with the Ravens, making him the highest-paid kicker in NFL history.

Kickers, including Tucker, often have a rather thankless role. Missing a field goal or an extra point can subject them to ridicule, while successfully converting kicks is considered part of their job. The accolades typically shower upon the offensive unit, responsible for maneuvering the ball within range for a feasible field goal attempt.

With a league minimum salary of $750,000 this year, the NFL’s punters, often the least-sung of the kickers, can have a decent wage. But the highest-rated members of this lowest-rated profession can have a salary that is both surprising in how much it is and simultaneously shocking for how low it is.

2023 NFL kicker salary rankings

As in all NFL contracts, the total dollar amount is less significant than the guaranteed or yearly average income. But it is important to remember that these are simply the tip of the iceberg. There are 32 placekickers and 32 punters around the league, plus guys on the practice squads, many of whom earn the league minimum, bringing the average salary for an NFL kicker to $860,000.

It is a shockingly low amount of money for someone who determines the outcome of most games on most weeks. But it is a decent payday if you can get it for a football player who will walk away at the end of their career with their health relatively intact.