Thanksgiving Special: Who’s Got the Turkey Leg?
November 25, 2017
Thanksgiving is all about the three F’s: Family, Food and Football. On one of the greatest holidays in America we celebrate with friends and family eating away at tons of food while watching 3 beautiful games of football. I’ve thought about it and most people, when thinking of games like Lions vs Vikings, automatically think Matthew Stafford and Adam Thielen. Two guys who are offensive powerhouses for their respective teams. But in this article I’m going to do something different and give the spotlight to some of the guys who have got some boomers for legs and can put the ball through the fucking uprights. These guys are underlooked, simply because they are kickers and punters, but they deserve some attention for kicking some ass. Here are my top 5 kickers and punters so far this NFL season.
Kickers:
Honorable Mention: Ryan Succop
Ryan Succop has been an absolute animal kicking the ball this year for Tennessee. Unfortunately he falls short from the top 5, but just barely. Kicking 23/27 through the uprights he leads the league hitting 13/15 from 40-49 yards out and that’s some stud type shit. Guy is almost automatic and if you give him a pretty far out kick he can nail it for you. He’s scored 90 points so far for the Titans while also hitting a long of 52 yards.
#5 Matt Prater – DET
Prater has been phenomenal this year. He is money from under 50, but has went 6/9 from 50+. I know he’s 6/9 from deep but he is not a bad deep kicker, the guy has hit a 58 yarder this season and holds the NFL record for the longest FG in history with a 64 yarder. Prater has gotten the most kicks from 50+ by far in the league and he’s earned it. He is 21/24 on the year and 26/26 kicking PAT’s this season.
#4 Kai Forbath – MIN
If I can say anything about Forbath it’s that he is a fucking sniper from deep. He is 10/11 from 40+ including going 5/5 from 50+. Even though the longest kick he’s got is 53, the guy can knock it down if it the number starts with 5. Kai has scored 89 for Minnesota this season and is gonna keep raising that number.
#3 Wil Lutz – NO
Lutz has been a dominant kicker helping the Saints in crunch time moments this season. He has hit the second most PAT’s this season going 30/33 and is 22/26 kicking field goals this season. Another guy who makes his money from 40-49 yards out he is 10-13 from that distance and kicking a long field goal of 53 yards out.
#2 Stephen Gostkowski – NE
Gostkowski has been a top 3 kicker in the league for years. After an off year last season he is back on track kicking the absolute shit out of the pigskin. Last week he kicked the longest FG by a kicker this season and the longest of his career with a 62 yard atomic bomb through the uprights against the Raiders. If you watched the kick it could have easily made 65-68 yards. It didn’t just barely go over, that thing hit the net at a pretty solid spot. He’s 26/29 this season and is 28/29 in kicking PAT’s.
#1 Greg “Legatron” Zuerlein – LAR
I cannot say enough about this guy. There is a reason why they call this guy fucking LEGATRON. He is absolutely super human. He has missed one FG all season going 28/29 and hitting all 31 of his PAT’s. He is easily the best kicker in the league and he proved it Week 4 against Dallas as he went 7/7 on FG’s and 2/2 on XP’s making him 9/9 on the day. He was one shy of the most FG’s in a game. Zuerlein has scored an NFL leading 115 points and is a perfect 4/4 from 50+ while hitting a long of 56 this season.
Since the kickers are wrapped up let’s go to probably the most underappreciated position in the league in my top 5 NFL punters.
Honorable Mention: Lachlan Edwards – NYJ
Edwards just missed the cut for the top 5 but has still had an impressive year this season. He is one of two punters to kick a punt 70+ yards this season (his was 70) and has punted 53 balls this year planting 21 of those inside the 20. It does help that he’s on the field a lot due to a stagnant Jets offense and it has helped him become a better punter as the season has moved along.
#5 Thomas Morstead – NO
Without a doubt this guy wins flow of the fucking year for punters and his kicking is just as good as his hair. Morstead hasn’t seen the field as much as other punters, due to the fact that his offense has been extremely dominant, but we don’t discriminate because of that he’s still a top 5 punter. While he’s only punted 30 times so far this season he has placed 16 of those inside the 20 yard line with an average of 47.3 yards per punt. His long on the season was a 68 yard bomb.
#4 Shane Lechler – HOU
Lechler has been an absolute stud for the Texans this season. He was great for the Raiders for years and is still dominating the NFL at 41 years old. He is tied for the most punts this season with 57 while hitting 49.5 yards per punt this season. He also has put 22 of his 57 inside the 20 making him a special teams animal. I don’t know how much longer he is going to be in the league but all I know is if he keeps this up he can be here forever.
#3 Johnny Hekker – LAR
Hekker has been one of the best punters in the NFL for the last 6 seasons. I mean for fucks sake the guy hit a 78 yard nuke last season. He also helps the Rams in the special team department giving them the best Kicker-Punter combo in the NFL. Another guy who hasn’t seen the field as much as other guys due to the high powered Rams offense, Hekker has been on a tear this season putting 19 of his 37 punts inside the 20 and averaging 46.8 yards per punt. He hit a long of 67 this season and has got one of the strongest legs in all of the NFL.
#2 Marquette King – OAK
King is by far the absolute flyest punter in league history. He plays the game with so much energy and swagger that I actually love watching him punt. Not only can the dude dance and throw penalty flags around but he’s got an absolute cannon of a leg. On 40 punts, King has put 18 inside the 20 and is averaging 50 yards per boot. He can punt and he is extremely fucking quick. He ran a 4.67 second 40 yard dash at the 2012 NFL combine and is the dream punter. This man does it all.
#1 Brett Kern – TEN
Kern is the top of the punters in the league. I have seen this guy play in person and he can boot the football like no other. Tennessee has one of the top Kicker-Punter duos in the league (Kern and Succop) and Kern really puts that into the conversation. With a 51.9 yard average for his 47 punts he has got the yard part of the punting down pat. He has downed 16 of those inside the 20 and has the NFL’s longest punt of the season with a 74 yard panty dropper of a kick. If you have Kern, he’ll set your defense up really nice every time.
Written by Nick Kazandjian
