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'Placekicker', or simply 'kicker' ('PK' or 'K'), is the title of the player in American and Canadian football who is responsible for the kicking duties of field goals, extra points, and, in many cases, kickoffs.

Contents

Specialized role of Kicker (vs punter)

Salary, stature

Kicking style

Shoes

Specialized role of Kicker (vs punter)

The kicker initially was not a specialized role. Until the 1960s, the kicker was almost always doubled at another position on the roster. As the era of "two-way" players gave way to increased specialization, teams would employ a specialist at punter and kicker. Because the skills are different enough, and to reduce the risk of injury, on the professional level most teams employ separate players to handle the jobs. The placekicker usually will only punt when the punter is injured. (One player often handles both jobs in the Canadian Football League, which has smaller active rosters than in the NFL.) Occasionally a professional team will even have a kicker who handles only the kickoffs and serves as a backup to the kicker who handles field goals and extra points, typically to further protect a premier kicker from injury or if their premier kicker, while accurate, does not have the leg strength to kick the long kicks required for kickoffs.
Amateur teams (e.g., college, high school) often do not differentiate between placekickers and punters, have different players assume different placekicking duties (for example, one person handles kicking off, another kicks long field goals, and another kicks from shorter distances), or have regular position players handle kicking duties. The last option is quite common on high school teams, when the best athletes are often the best kickers. Before the modern era of pro football, this was also the case for professional teams, particularly when most place kicks were still made in the "straight on" style outlined below.

Salary, stature

Placekickers and punters are frequently the lowest-paid starters on professional teams, although proven placekickers sometimes earn over a million dollars per year in salary.
In addition, kickers are at times ostracized by other players due to the perceived non-physical and limited nature of their duties. The presence of foreign born-and-raised players in the highest levels of gridiron football has largely been limited to placekickers - occasionally even coming from outside the traditional American high school and/or college football systems - thereby increasing the perception of the placekicker as an outsider.

Kicking style

Placekickers today are almost all "soccer-style" kickers, approaching the ball from several steps to the left or right of it and several steps behind and striking the ball with the instep of the foot. Before this method of kicking was popularized in the 1960s by Charlie and Pete Gogolak, every place kicker was a "straight on" kicker, a style that requires the use of a special shoe that is extremely rigid and has a flattened toe. [1] In the straight on style, the kicker approaches the ball from directly behind the rather than from the side and strikes the ball with the toe.

Shoes

Placekickers in the modern game usually wear specialized shoes, but in rare circumstances some prefer to kick barefoot. Tony Franklin was one such kicker, who played in Super Bowls for the Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots. More recently, Englishman Rob Hart kicked barefoot during his 7-year NFL Europe career. John Baker also used the style in the 1990s in the Canadian Football League.