NFL By the Numbers - Kicker Evolution

NFL BY THE NUMBERS

Evolution of the Kicker

 Fans like me discuss how the game has changed.  Some of the changes are stylistic: Less running more passing, 3-4 defenses more in vogue, the growing use of the hurry up offense.  Some of the changes though relate to the quality of the athletes themselves: Forty or even twenty years ago there were no quarterbacks leaving defenses in their dust on seventy-five yard runs, or 6'5" wide receivers who catch anything in their vicinity and then outrun or run over pursuing defenders. 

I assert that maybe the player that has evolved most in the last 40 years is the NFL kicker.  The league keeps changing the rules to lessen the kicker's impact.  The kicker keeps getting better to outpace the rule changes.  Here are two rather eye-popping takeaways from kicking success in 1971 and kicking success in 2011.  In 1971 NFL kickers made 58.7% of the kicks they attempted.  In 2011 NFL Kickers made 82.9% of their attempts, a 42% increase in field goal success rate since 1971.  More telling, in 1971 NFL kickers attempted 51 field goals over 50 yards and made just 12, a 23.5% success rate.  In 2011 NFL kickers made 90 of the 140 field goals they attempted over 50 yards, an astounding 64.3% accuracy rate.

This level of kicking evolution says much more about the quality of the kicker than the fact that Minnesota and Detroit play games inside.  OK, most kickers don't look like athletes when they try and tackle a fleet return man in the open field, but in another forty years, who knows?

A couple of things to keep in mind when you read the stats below:

1) The NFL moved the goal posts to the back of the end zone in 1974.

2) The NFL also changed the rule in 1974 to provide that the defensive team would take position from the spot of a missed field goal attempt (rather than the 20 yard line) if the attempt was from outside the 20 yard line.

These rule changes resulted in the decline in field goals made and attempted in comparing 1971 results to 1976 results.  By 1981 the kickers had caught up to the rule changes.  

Kickers have become so good that it affects the way teams play.  I think it leads to more conservative play calling because teams protect an almost certain three points in many situations rather than take some risks to score touchdowns.  I offer as evidence the 2011 San Francisco Forty-Niners who were terrible in the red zone while Niner kicker David Akers set an NFL record by making 44 of his 52 attempts. 

NFC
Year	# of Teams	FG/Att	Fg/Made	% Made	50+ Att	50+ Made	50+ %
1971	26	797	468	58.7%	51	12	24%
1976	28	672	400	59.5%	41	8	20%
1981	28	791	521	65.9%	67	21	31%
1986	28	815	559	68.6%	93	33	35%
1991	28	848	623	73.5%	94	42	45%
1996	30	915	732	80.0%	58	30	52%
2001	31	959	732	76.3%	73	38	52%
2006	32	942	767	81.4%	85	40	47%
2011	32	1011	838	82.9%	140	90	64%