Top 5 Kickers

[JuggernautJ]

From the Monday Morning QB by Peter King:
"Vinatieri will go down as a top-five kicker of all time, and the way Gostkowski is going, he just might too."

So who are the other 4 (or 3)?

Shall we start with HoF Kickers?
That'd be Stenerude, Blanda and Groza... so that's four out of 5 (unless we count Gostkowski in which case we're done) leaving only one other kicker in all of Pro Football History to join the top 5.

Seems kind of silly (and arbitrary) but who are the top 5 kickers in NFL history.... in your opinion?

(For the purpose of this discussion please exclude Punters... even though they do, in fact, kick the ball.)

[superbowlfanatic]

Vinatieri, Morten Andersen, Jan Stenerud's already in. Those are the top 3.

If Gotkowski is top notch, then why did not Belichick use him to kick a 48-yd FG indoors in the 2nd half of of SB 42 and instead go for it on offense on a failed 4th down and 12 yards to go - because he did not have the confidence in him at that early point in his career. Yes he's great of late, but not throughout his career. Plus he's the last kicker to KO out of bounds in a Super Bowl - inexcuseable!

Dan Bailey has a better shot at a HOF career than Gostkowski, from start to finish (with a long way to go!). But Gostowski is certainly money lately.

[bachslunch]

By FG percentage adjusted for era: Lou Groza, Jan Stenerud, Nick Lowery, Morton Andersen, Gary Anderson -- and they're pretty clearly alone at the top. At least that's what I remember seeing in rankings done by Chase Stuart and Rupert Patrick.

Groza and Stenerud are in the HoF and rightly so. Chances are reasonably good Morton Andersen will join them eventually given that he has been a finalist a few times now; he belongs in as well. I say get Lowery and Anderson in before considering Vinatieri, who if memory serves is more towards league-average range adjusted for time period -- not to mention someone like Gostkowski.

[Rupert Patrick]

By FG percentage adjusted for era: Lou Groza, Jan Stenerud, Nick Lowery, Morton Andersen, Gary Anderson -- and they're pretty clearly alone at the top. At least that's what I remember seeing in rankings done by Chase Stuart and Rupert Patrick.

Groza and Stenerud are in the HoF and rightly so. Chances are reasonably good Morton Andersen will join them eventually given that he has been a finalist a few times now; he belongs in as well. I say get Lowery and Anderson in before considering Vinatieri, who if memory serves is more towards league-average range adjusted for time period -- not to mention someone like Gostkowski.

I would rank them as top five, and I do think Morten Andersen will get into Canton in time, and I think Gary Anderson should be inducted also but I think Morten has a stronger case. Lowery is more of a HOVG type.

Vinatieri will probably go into the HOF on the first try. I have been hard on him over the years, he is surely overrated to a degree, but he has been acknowledged as the greatest clutch kicker of all time (and rightly so, I suppose, but I think an argument could probably be made for Groza) winning two Super Bowls in the last ten seconds and also kicking two FG's to win the Tuck Rule game. His 45-yarder to tie the Tuck Rule game at 10-10 in the final 30 seconds of regulation in a blizzard has to rank with Pat Summerall's 49-yarder in similar conditions (to beat the Browns and forge a tiebreaker game in the Eastern Division) in 1958 as the two most difficult FG's in pro football history. Vinatieri has also been fortunate in playing his career for two of the greatest offensive powerhouses of all time (Patriots and Colts of the last 20 years) and he's already third career all time in points with exactly 2200. He will probably need this season and more than two more full seasons to catch Morten Andersen, who has 2544 points, and in light of Vinatieri's age (he turns 43 the final week of the regular season) he'll play as long as he can continue to connect on 55-yarders like he did last week. I would rate Vinatieri sixth all time among kickers, but he could move into the top five.

[bachslunch]

Should also mention that kickers at the top among the "best of the rest" I remember seeing included folks like Jim Bakken, Garo Yepremian, and Matt Stover.

[ChrisBabcock]

Here's Chase Stuart's article...

http://www.footballperspective.com/the- ... -rankings/

It's easy to forget how good Jason Hanson was being mired on horrible Lions teams most of his career.

[JuggernautJ]

Please Note: I was not in any way suggesting all those guys should be Hall bound.
I'm not sure 5 ("pure") kickers in the Hall of Fame is something I support.

Nice to see Summerall get a mention.
Another honorable mention might be Mark Moseley, the only kicker to win the MVP award (and last of the straight-away kickers).

I guess many on the great kickers from the days of eld are in for the entirety of their game (perhaps Dutch Clark, Bobby Lane, etc. fall into this category?)

Some favorites from my youth (not suggesting they are top 5, just favorites):
Fred Cox, Jim Bakken and Tommy Davis

[Reaser]

It's easy to forget how good Jason Hanson was being mired on horrible Lions teams most of his career.

He was also a great punter in high school (and punted at WSU) ... Not sure what it is about the Greater Spokane League (GSL) but they know how to kick over there. At the same time Jason Hanson was a good high school kicker and great high school punter for Mead HS, Mike Hollis was in the same league at Central Valley HS going down as one of the great kickers in state history.

Interestingly, Mike Hollis held the GSL career FG's record until 2012 and Jason Hanson held the GSL career punting avg. record until 2012. Both records were broken by K/P Austin Rehkow (went to same HS as Hollis, famous for his 67-yard FG in high school) who's now at Idaho where he's a good college kicker and a great college punter - on his way to putting himself in the conversation as one of - if not the - best punters in college football history.

[conace21]

It sounds strange, but as a young Bills fan in the late 90's, I was always looking forward to facing Vinatieri. Since he entered the league in 1996, Buffalo has only won 8 games against New England (twice after he left for Indy.) Vinatieri directly or indirectly cost New England the game 3 times.
1996, 1 of 4 in a 17-10 game that saw New England with the ball at the 1 at the end of the game.

1998, 1 of 3 (in windy conditions) 13-10.

1999 1 of 4. This is the only game he directly blew for the Patriots. He missed a FG at the end of regulation with the score tied, and he missed again in OT.

[bachslunch]

Please Note: I was not in any way suggesting all those guys should be Hall bound.
I'm not sure 5 ("pure") kickers in the Hall of Fame is something I support.

Nice to see Summerall get a mention.
Another honorable mention might be Mark Moseley, the only kicker to win the MVP award (and last of the straight-away kickers).

I guess many on the great kickers from the days of eld are in for the entirety of their game (perhaps Dutch Clark, Bobby Lane, etc. fall into this category?)

Some favorites from my youth (not suggesting they are top 5, just favorites):
Fred Cox, Jim Bakken and Tommy Davis

Tommy Davis strikes me as having a Hall-worthy career as a punter. Dr. Z definitely thinks so too, given what I've read.