Peter King: Never, ever, draft a kicker in the first 4 rounds

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After watching rookie kicker Jake Moody miss a 41-yarder 10 inches wide right to lose the Niners’ game at Cleveland in Week 6, then seeing him miss his next field-goal try from 40 last Monday night at Minnesota (in an indoor stadium) 3 feet wide right, I have come to this conclusion: Never, ever, ever pick a kicker in the first four rounds of a draft.

In the last 15 years, NFL teams have picked five kickers in the first four rounds. Two of them, Moody and Chad Ryland, were picked this year, so it’s too early to judge. But the recent evidence is overwhelming. It’s dumb to take kickers early. Look at the five guys picked in the top four rounds of the past 15 drafts:

2023
Jake Moody (San Francisco, Round 3, 99th overall). Struggling. Now, Moody made a 55-yarder after missing from 40, and I don’t want to be flip here, but I don’t care. You cannot miss 41- and 40-yard kicks in big moments in consecutive games. You can’t.

Chad Ryland (New England, Round 4, 112th overall). Five of nine from 40 yards and out.

2022
Cade York (Cleveland, Round 4, 124th overall). Cut after one season. On the Titans’ practice squad.

2016
Roberto Aguayo (Tampa Bay, Round 2, 59th overall). A 71-percent kicker as a rookie, he slumped in camp in 2017 and never kicked again in the league. Unsigned.

2011
Alex Henery (Philadelphia, Round 4, 120th overall). Kicked four seasons. Made 69 percent of his kicks beyond 40 yards. Not good. Per Wikipedia, he now works for a real estate firm.

The following kickers were not drafted, and at least one, who dresses in purple, will likely be going to Canton one day: Justin Tucker, Matt Prater, Younghoe Koo, Chris Boswell, Brandon McManus. The following kickers were drafted, but not in the top 140 of a draft: Dustin Hopkins, Matt Gay, Nick Folk, Harrison Butker.

Moody and Ryland have miles to go before we can judge their careers definitively. Clearly, we have to wait and see on them. But the point is, there was no evidence last April that kickers are worth valuable picks in the draft, and there certainly isn’t now.

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Aguayo was supposed to be a beast. I’m surprised he didn’t get more chances elsewhere

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I know it’s not in the past 15 years, but Jason Hansen was a hell of a player we picked in the second round.

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He was our best player for a lot of years

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Jason Hanson approves this message.

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I think he’s literally the last highly-drafted kicker to work out. I guess you could argue Janikowski, but I’d say he was kind of a disappointment overall since he cost a 1st round pick. He was fine, but no better than a lot of the UDFAs in the league at the time.

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I believe that there’s exceptions to the rules, and it really depends on how confident you are that the scouting reports are accurate. The Lions gambled on Hanson and won, but then again, it’s not often that Sports Illustrated does an entire article on a college kicker. They did with Hanson.

Hanson was a generational talent at a position that most teams view like kleenex. Despite that, many people pointed out the salary cap implications of Hanson’s contracts respective of teams like the Cowboys that seemingly had unending success dragging guys off the street for contract minimums.

Overall, I have to agree that Kickers are an end of draft commodity, but there is the exception every now and again.

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That particular year, it didn’t matter much.

The Lions received No.47 from Dallas in exchange for Detroit’s third-, fourth- and ninth-round selections (82nd, 109th and 250th).

The Lions didn’t really miss out on any players and wasted the 3rd Rd pick received for OT Harvey Salem (contract dispute issue), on TE Thomas McLemore, who ran a 4.44, but couldn’t catch a cold.

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I have to agree. I think with Jankowski’s particular situation that Al Davis was fed up beyond belief with the running mill of kickers the Raiders went through that were costing them critical games. I’m sure he was the one to pull the trigger on that pick, and from his perspective, it worked.

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His numbers are not far off than Hanson’s…so maybe Hanson wasn’t much better than a lot of UDFAs either

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Hanson was 4% more accurate, which is a lot in the world of kicking. And surprisingly 4% more accurate from 50+ as well, despite Janikowski’s strong-legged reputation.

But mostly there’s a huge difference between pick 17 and pick 56. On the JJ draft trade chart, the difference in capital between the two was an additional 1st round pick. If Janikowski had been chosen where Hanson was, I’d call his career successful. But he was drafted top 20.

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Hanson…for his career was 495-601/82.4%/2,150 points and career long 56 yarder

Janikowski….436-542/80.4%/1,913 and a career long of 63 yds

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I stand corrected. That’s what I get for trusting reddit. And my own recall.

I still say spending 2 1st rounders more than Hanson on a guy who makes fewer overall FGs and a fewer percentage makes him a much worse investment. And 100% not worth it.

But I also don’t really care.

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Well he didn’t play as long as Hanson for one….18 years compared to 21 for Hanson

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