The Top 5 Best NFL Kickers in 2021
Kickers are extremely important players in the NFL, but don’t always get the credit they deserve. The top 5 kickers in the league might not be the biggest NFL stars, but they are players who can score crucial field goals with amazing accuracy.
Justin Tucker – Baltimore Ravens
Tucker isn’t just the best kicker this season, he is statistically the best player in this position in the history of the NFL. Despite that he ranks only 2nd in the best NFL kickers ranked by TwinSpires.
He played his college football at the University of Texas and wasn’t picked in the 2021 draft. However, the Ravens picked the player up as a free agent and he impressed right away.
Overall, Tucker has a field goal percentage of over 90%, so he is the most accurate player in this position in history. He also kicked a 66- yard field goal this year, which means he holds the record for the longest field goal ever recorded in the NFL. His two best seasons have each seen him end with 38 field goals.
Harrison Butker – Kansas City Chiefs
The second-best kicker in history is also currently playing in the NFL. Butker is the only other kicker to reach over 90% in terms of accuracy. He played for Georgia Tech and became their all-time leading scorer before joining the Carolina Panthers in the 2017 draft, as 233rd pick.
He was waived by the Panthers and joined the Kansas City Chiefs, scoring a game-winning field goal on his debut. In fact, in his first month in the NFL, Butker set a record for most field goals by a rookie. He carried on consistently from there and even matched the Chief’s record of a 58-yard field goal twice in the same game last year.
Chris Boswell – Pittsburgh Steels
With a field goal percentage approaching 90%, Boswell could overtake Tucker and Butker to become the top kicker of all time. He learned soccer at an early age, as his father worked as a missionary in Brazil and played there. His college career was at Rice, before he joined the Houston Texas as a free agent in 2014.
Boswell joined the Steelers a year later, as their 4th placekicker and soon made history with the longest debut field goal in NFL history. His consistency since then has seen him rack up numerous points while also setting the Steeler’s record with a 59-yard field goal.
Josh Lambo – Jacksonville Jaguars
If we look at the list of the best NFL kickers in history, we can see that the fourth-best in terms of accuracy is playing in 2021. Joshua Lambo was an undrafted free agent after not being picked in the 2015 draft. However, he joined the San Diego Chargers before switching to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Before that, he played as a soccer goalkeeper and was drafted as 8th overall in the 2008 MLS SuperDraft, joining FC Dallas. After being waived by the team and failing to gain new offers, Lambo left soccer and joined the Texas A&M University, playing as a kicker on their football team.
Wil Lutz – New Orleans Saints
Lutz played his college football at Georgia State University before going unpicked in the 2016 draft. He briefly joined the Baltimore Ravens before signing for the New Orleans Saints in the same year and going from strength to strength there.
Among his achievements, he scored a 58-yard field goal which turned out to be the longest game-winning field goal ever scored at the end of a season-opener with no time left on the clock. His overall percentage of just over 86% makes him the 5th most accurate kicker in history, just ahead of Robbie Gould of the San Francisco 49ers.
