The Greatest Field Goal Kickers Of All Time II, Part III: Career Rankings

by Chase Stuart on September 10, 2015

in G.O.A.T., History

Nick the Kick

On Tuesday, I explained the formula used in my system of grading field goal kickers, which is based on field goal success rate adjusted for distance and era. Yesterday, I looked at the single-season leaders using that methodology. Today, we look at the best field goal kickers since 1960 on the career level.

And frankly, it’s not much of a question as to who is the best kicker ever. Until presented with evidence to the contrary, that honor belongs to Nick Lowery (you can tell him about that here). The table below shows the top field goal kickers ever; let’s walk through Lowery’s line as an example.

Lowery played from 1978 to 1996. The length of his average field goal attempt was 36.6 yards, and the length of his average made field goal was 34.8 yards. Lowery attempted 479 field goals in his career; based on the distance of those kicks and the era in which he played, we would expect an average kicker to have made about 337.6 of those attempts. Instead, Lowery made 383 of them, a whopping 45.4 field goals above expectation. Thought of another way, Lowery’s expected field goal rate was 70.5%, while his actual was 80.0%, so he was successful an extra 9.5% of the time he lined up to kick. That’s remarkable. In short, Lowery was the most valuable field goal kicker in NFL history.

Rk	Kicker	First Yr	Last Yr	Avg Length (Att)	Avg Length (Made)	Att	Exp Made	Made	FG ab Exp	Exp Rt	Act Rt	Diff
1	Nick Lowery	1978	1996	36.6	34.8	479	337.6	383	45.4	70.5%	80.0%	9.5%
2	Morten Andersen	1982	2007	36.8	34.8	709	528.0	565	37.0	74.5%	79.7%	5.2%
3	Jan Stenerud	1967	1985	34.7	31.1	558	340.8	373	32.2	61.1%	66.8%	5.8%
4	Jason Hanson	1992	2012	38.2	36.4	601	465.2	495	29.8	77.4%	82.4%	5.0%
5	Gary Anderson	1982	2004	35.8	34.1	672	508.6	538	29.4	75.7%	80.1%	4.4%
6	Jim Bakken	1963	1978	33.8	30.2	446	256.4	282	25.6	57.5%	63.2%	5.7%
7	Eddie Murray	1980	2000	36.7	35.1	466	328.6	352	23.4	70.5%	75.5%	5.0%
8	Garo Yepremian	1966	1981	34.6	31.2	313	188.4	210	21.6	60.2%	67.1%	6.9%
9	Mark Moseley	1970	1986	37.1	34.3	457	280.4	300	19.6	61.3%	65.6%	4.3%
10	John Kasay	1991	2011	37.1	35.2	563	441.7	461	19.3	78.5%	81.9%	3.4%
11	Fred Cox	1963	1977	33.3	29.0	455	263.2	282	18.8	57.9%	62.0%	4.1%
12	Norm Johnson	1982	1999	36.4	34.3	477	349.9	366	16.1	73.3%	76.7%	3.4%
13	Mike Vanderjagt	1998	2006	35.7	34.5	266	215.7	230	14.3	81.1%	86.5%	5.4%
14	Matt Stover	1991	2009	35.1	33.4	563	457.3	471	13.7	81.2%	83.7%	2.4%
15	Lou Groza ^[1]Note: The "First Year" column denotes each kicker's first year since 1960 when they attempted a field goal. For Groza, he's included, but his pre-1960 stats are not.	1961	1967	33.9	29.9	181	90.1	103	12.9	49.8%	56.9%	7.1%
16	Don Cockroft	1968	1980	34.1	30.9	328	203.1	216	12.9	61.9%	65.9%	3.9%
17	Donald Igwebuike	1985	1990	38.4	35.5	143	95.3	108	12.7	66.6%	75.5%	8.9%
18	Jim Turner	1964	1979	32.9	29.2	488	292.0	304	12.0	59.8%	62.3%	2.5%
19	John Carney	1988	2010	35.4	33.8	580	466.1	478	11.9	80.4%	82.4%	2.1%
20	Sam Baker	1960	1969	33.7	28.9	220	113.8	125	11.2	51.7%	56.8%	5.1%
21	Tom Dempsey	1969	1979	35.4	31.6	258	148.1	159	10.9	57.4%	61.6%	4.2%
22	Raul Allegre	1983	1991	37.2	34.8	186	126.1	137	10.9	67.8%	73.7%	5.9%
23	Horst Muhlmann	1969	1977	33.8	30.3	239	143.7	154	10.3	60.1%	64.4%	4.3%
24	Jason Elam	1993	2009	36.7	34.8	540	425.8	436	10.2	78.8%	80.7%	1.9%
25	Rafael Septien	1977	1986	35.9	32.9	256	169.9	180	10.1	66.4%	70.3%	3.9%
26	Rob Bironas	2005	2013	37.6	36.3	279	228.9	239	10.1	82.1%	85.7%	3.6%
27	Paul McFadden	1984	1989	37.7	35.6	163	110.1	120	9.9	67.6%	73.6%	6.1%
28	Pete Stoyanovich	1989	2000	35.6	33.8	342	262.4	272	9.6	76.7%	79.5%	2.8%
29	Al Del Greco	1984	2000	36.2	34.4	449	337.6	347	9.4	75.2%	77.3%	2.1%
30	Toni Fritsch	1971	1982	34.1	31.1	231	147.9	157	9.1	64.0%	68.0%	3.9%
31	Lou Michaels	1960	1971	33.1	27.7	324	170.0	179	9.0	52.5%	55.2%	2.8%
32	Don Chandler	1962	1967	32.4	27.9	160	85.1	94	8.9	53.2%	58.8%	5.6%
33	Dan Bailey	2011	2014	38.7	37.7	127	105.1	114	8.9	82.8%	89.8%	7.0%
34	Rolf Benirschke	1977	1986	35.8	33.6	208	137.2	146	8.8	66.0%	70.2%	4.2%
35	Jeff Wilkins	1995	2007	36.8	35.3	375	298.3	307	8.7	79.6%	81.9%	2.3%
36	Errol Mann	1968	1978	34.0	30.9	276	168.4	177	8.6	61.0%	64.1%	3.1%
37	Mick Luckhurst	1981	1987	37.8	36.3	164	106.8	115	8.2	65.1%	70.1%	5.0%
38	George Blanda	1960	1975	33.5	28.6	440	238.9	247	8.1	54.3%	56.1%	1.8%
39	Justin Tucker	2012	2014	38.1	36.9	108	89.4	97	7.6	82.8%	89.8%	7.0%
40	Efren Herrera	1974	1982	35.5	32.3	171	108.9	116	7.1	63.7%	67.8%	4.2%
41	Ray Wersching	1973	1987	36.0	33.2	329	214.9	222	7.1	65.3%	67.5%	2.2%
42	Doug Brien	1994	2005	37.3	35.8	258	200.0	207	7.0	77.5%	80.2%	2.7%
43	Ryan Longwell	1997	2011	36.4	35.0	434	354.0	361	7.0	81.6%	83.2%	1.6%
44	Bruce Gossett	1964	1974	32.2	27.2	360	212.3	219	6.7	59.0%	60.8%	1.9%
45	Pat Leahy	1974	1991	34.5	31.9	426	297.6	304	6.4	69.8%	71.4%	1.5%
46	Robbie Gould	2005	2014	36.6	35.1	284	237.3	243	5.7	83.6%	85.6%	2.0%
47	Sebastian Janikowski	2000	2014	39.2	37.0	454	358.7	364	5.3	79.0%	80.2%	1.2%
48	Connor Barth	2008	2014	38.5	37.3	134	110.0	115	5.0	82.1%	85.8%	3.7%
49	Dan Carpenter	2008	2014	38.0	36.4	229	189.2	194	4.8	82.6%	84.7%	2.1%
50	Adam Vinatieri	1996	2014	35.7	34.3	571	473.4	478	4.6	82.9%	83.7%	0.8%
51	John Smith	1974	1983	35.3	32.8	191	123.4	128	4.6	64.6%	67.0%	2.4%
52	Fuad Reveiz	1985	1995	36.2	33.5	250	183.5	188	4.5	73.4%	75.2%	1.8%
53	Tony Franklin	1979	1988	37.3	34.3	264	172.7	177	4.3	65.4%	67.0%	1.6%
54	Josh Brown	2003	2014	37.8	36.3	336	273.9	278	4.1	81.5%	82.7%	1.2%
55	Nate Kaeding	2004	2012	35.4	34.0	210	176.9	181	4.1	84.2%	86.2%	1.9%
56	Shayne Graham	2001	2014	35.4	34.0	311	262.3	266	3.7	84.3%	85.5%	1.2%
57	Matt Bryant	2002	2014	35.9	34.7	335	282.3	286	3.7	84.3%	85.4%	1.1%
58	Gene Mingo	1960	1970	34.4	29.7	219	108.4	112	3.6	49.5%	51.1%	1.7%
59	George Blair	1961	1964	28.1	25.2	80	46.5	50	3.5	58.2%	62.5%	4.3%
60	Tony Zendejas	1985	1995	36.2	34.6	252	182.7	186	3.3	72.5%	73.8%	1.3%
61	Jim Martin	1960	1964	32.2	29.7	121	60.8	64	3.2	50.2%	52.9%	2.7%
62	John Leypoldt	1971	1978	35.7	32.6	154	89.9	93	3.1	58.4%	60.4%	2.0%
63	Florian Kempf	1982	1987	35.6	33.5	38	26.1	29	2.9	68.7%	76.3%	7.6%
64	Rich Karlis	1982	1990	35.7	33.3	239	169.4	172	2.6	70.9%	72.0%	1.1%
65	Stephen Gostkowski	2006	2014	35.1	34.1	278	238.4	241	2.6	85.8%	86.7%	0.9%
66	Blair Walsh	2012	2014	39.0	37.5	103	84.5	87	2.5	82.1%	84.5%	2.4%
67	Steven Hauschka	2008	2014	36.6	35.3	149	125.8	128	2.2	84.4%	85.9%	1.5%
68	Steve Myhra	1960	1961	32.8	30.4	58	27.9	30	2.1	48.1%	51.7%	3.6%
69	Kai Forbath	2012	2014	36.9	36.1	67	56.9	59	2.1	84.9%	88.1%	3.1%

The rest of the top five is hardly surprising: it features Morten Andersen and his brother from another mother, Gary Anderson, along with Hall of Famer Jan Stenerud and Lions legend Jason Hanson.

One blunder can certainly define a player’s career, but it isn’t fair in the case of Garo Yepremian. He’s top ten kicker of all time by this methodology.

The greatest field goal kicker to ever miss two field goals in a Super Bowl, Adam Vinatieri, does not fare all that well in this system. What makes Vinatieri better than say, Sebastian Janikowski? The two are contemporaries, and while it’s easy to note that Vinatieri has a better field goal rate, consider the other data in the table: Janikowski’s average made kick is 37.0 yards, significantly higher than Vinatieri’s average (34.3). The same goes for average attempt (39.2 to 35.7). There’s not much of an era adjustment going on here, obviously, but longer kicks is why Jankowski’s been about 1.2% above average compared to Vinatieri’s 0.8% rate.

Among active, young, kickers, two stand out: Baltimore’s Justin Tucker and Dallas’ Dan Bailey. Both are a whopping 7.0% above average, courtesy of 90% success rates compared to 83% expected rates.

As always, please leave your thoughts in the comments. Presumably your thoughts about how awesome Nick Lowery was.

References[+]

References
↑1	Note: The "First Year" column denotes each kicker's first year since 1960 when they attempted a field goal. For Groza, he's included, but his pre-1960 stats are not.

Tagged as: Kickers

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