Why are so many NFL kickers getting hurt? Specialist switches have been trending up this season

EAGAN, Minn. (AP) — The kicker carousel has spun frequently around the NFL this fall.

The riders keep getting hurt.

Traditionally viewed in this tough-guy sport as the quirky specialists who get to steer clear of the danger that lurks on the field, the place-kicking community has experienced an outsized amount of pain this season for a role that primarily hinges on handling the mental challenge of high-pressure performance.

Teams that have made it this far without having to switch kickers ought to feel fortunate.

“Just looking for a live leg, you know?” New York Jets interim coach Jeff Ulbrich said last week after his team’s latest shuffle landed on Spencer Shrader, who’s now headed for the Kansas City Chiefs with eighth-year veteran Harrison Butker on injured reserve.

Butker is one of seven kickers currently on IR, a who’s-who group of sorts at the position that includes Matt Prater and Greg Zuerlein.

This will be Shrader’s third team, having also kicked in one game for the Indianapolis Colts. His expected replacement on the Jets, Anders Carlson, has already handled kicking duty in two games for the San Francisco 49ers. There were 45 different players who attempted at least one kick this regular season entering this week, and that figure didn’t reflect Shrader’s appearance with multiple teams. Essentially, after the weekend is over, the total would be 48.

The Jets will be at four — in four weeks — and join the 49ers and their co-tenant the New York Giants for the most in the league. Both the 49ers and the Giants had to give their punters a turn, thanks to in-game injuries. The Washington Commanders have used three.

According to Sportradar data, there were only 41 kickers used across the league over the entire 2023 season, including one punter appearance and a double shot by Riley Patterson with both the Cleveland Browns and the Detroit Lions. Ten years ago, only 37 players attempted a kick in a regular season game.

So what’s the story? Predictably, opinions vary around the NFL.

One issue has been more kickoffs in play following the rule change, as the 49ers experienced with Jake Moody and Matthew Wright going down in consecutive games while trying to make a tackle. The touchback rate, per Sportradar, has dropped from 74.3% in 2023 to 67.2% in 2024.

“I would never be the coach that says, ‘Just let them score,’ but, dang, that’s two weeks in a row,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said last month.

There’s also, of course, the theory that the collective increase in leg strength across the league has led to more muscle injuries. There have already been nine field goals attempted from 60-plus yards, matching the 2023 total. The number of 50-plus field goal tries, currently at 154, is on pace to smash the 2023 total of 230.

“As a result of that, maybe you’re practicing and working more 50-yard field goals during the week, so the taxing of the leg and those soft-tissue injuries kind of build up as we’re getting deeper and deeper into the season,” said Minnesota Vikings special teams coordinator Matt Daniels, whose rookie kicker Will Reichard went down last week with a quadriceps strain that bubbled up during a recent game.

The Vikings typically kick on Wednesdays and Fridays in practices for a Sunday game.

“You really have to make sure you’re monitoring those guys, especially the young ones who feel like they’re young whippersnappers and they can kick until their leg falls off,” Daniels said. “You definitely have got to be smart with that and hold them accountable for sure.”

For those who dismiss the correlation from longer-distance kicking to league-wide injury increase, there’s still a clear understanding that during-the-week workloads must be carefully managed.

“Part of it is finding that routine in the first place. I think some guys are young enough where it doesn’t matter early on, and after a couple of years if they don’t have a routine, then it kind of rears its head and something happens,” said Browns kicker Dustin Hopkins, who has fought hamstring injuries for several seasons. “I don’t want to say long kicks, because in theory your effort is very similar — at least for me — for a 60-yarder as it is for a 44-yarder.”

Parker Romo can attest to the benefit of a reliable routine. The 27-year-old got the call from the Vikings to replace Reichard and made all four of his field goal attempts to beat the Jacksonville Jaguars last week.

“You definitely don’t want to kick too much just because you never know when that phone could ring. You’ve got to be ready, because they call you one day and the next day you’re working out for the team,” Romo said. “I think it’s just important to limit those longer reps. Sure, it’s fun to hit ’em and keep going, but you’ve got to be smart with it.”