Did you know that NFL kickers have made 35 of 39 field goal attempts from 50+ yards through two weeks?
Ka’imi Fairbairn (6) and Chris Boswell (4) are the only kickers in NFL history to make 4+ field goals of 50+ yards through two weeks of a season. pic.twitter.com/LnOM4xfVB4
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) September 19, 2024
The first few weeks of the NFL season have seen a drastic rise in kicker usage, as the quarterback play across the league has seen a pretty significant drop in total yards. This has allowed kickers to take on larger roles than ever, and their advanced metrics have seen a drastic rise to previous seasons.
According to NFL Next Gen Stats, the league-wide field goal accuracy has increased (by field goal percentage over the expected percentage) from +4.5% in 2023 to +11% this season. While the sample size is small so far for 2024, it has risen from -1.7% in 2019, which is a pretty drastic increase.
New Orleans Saints kicker Blake Grupe ranks among the best in this statistic through Week 2, as he has a +33.0% field goal percentage over expected. This puts him at second in the league, behind only Ka’imi Fairbairn who has been off to a massive start this season. Grupe has missed only one kick this season, a PAT, but otherwise has drilled all five field goal attempts with a long of 57, as well as all of his remaining PAT attempts (10). He leads the league through two weeks in PATs scored and attempts as well.
A +23% over league average for Grupe in this analytic shows he is not only making field goals, but making difficult field goals, which is a great sign given he was put into a competition this offseason with rookie Charlie Smyth, which Grupe ultimately won. We will see how this analytic progresses in coming weeks with a larger sample size to look at.
