Part 12, ST: Is it worth drafting a kicker anymore?
Bob McGinn's 12-part series previewing the 2025 draft wraps up with the specialists. Access all links inside. Scouts from across the country weigh in on everyone.
This is the 41st year, and the fourth at Go Long, in which Bob McGinn has written a position-by-position series previewing the NFL draft. Previously, it appeared in the Green Bay Press-Gazette (1985-’91), the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (1992-2017), BobMcGinnFootball.com (2018-’19) and The Athletic (2020-’21). Until 2014, many personnel people were quoted by name. Reluctantly, the series adopted an all-anonymous format in 2015 at the request of most scouts.
Last of 12 parts: Special teams.
Go Long is your forever home for unvarnished NFL coverage.
By Bob McGinn
It wouldn’t be all that shocking if this becomes the first year since 1998 that not a single kicker or punter ends up being drafted.
Certainly, the odds are against a blank job. Slightly more than two kickers and two punters have been drafted on average over the last eight years.
Nevertheless, the reviews for what’s available in the 2025 draft wouldn’t engender a whole lot of optimism. It’s a thin list at long snapper, too.
Listen to how one experienced special-teams coach sized up the three-pronged foundation of special teams.
Kickers: “I don’t think there’s anybody that should get drafted. Unless you got three extra draft picks.”
Punters: “I think you’d have to be crazy to give anybody a draft pick. There’s nobody there I would jump off and say, ‘I’ve gotta have this punter.’”
Long snappers: “There’s nobody that should be drafted. Nobody.”
Another veteran of NFL special teams has found a few more rays of sunlight.
“It’s not a very strong class for kickers and punters,” the coach said. “Late (rounds) for the kickers. The first three punters are potentially draftable, and I didn’t think any of the long snappers are draftable. I couldn’t tell you the last time a snapper was drafted.”
After at least one long snapper was drafted from 2015-’21, none has gone in the past three years. Ten snappers have been selected in the last 20 years; the highest of the draftees, Navy’s Joe Cardona, went to New England in the fifth round of the 2015 draft and has been a rock for the Patriots, snapping every game other than the last three in 2022 when he was felled by a foot injury.
Some point to the Bears’ selection of Patrick Mannelly in the sixth round in 1998 as the starting point for drafted snappers. Mannelly, however, was listed as a tackle/long snapper in Chicago’s 1998 media guide after he started two seasons on the offensive line at Duke.
Surprisingly, the high-water period for long snappers occurred two decades ago when 10 were drafted in the four years from 2000-’03. Not one was taken in the five drafts from 2010-’14.
It has been said that kickers are more vital than punters because they score points. In the eyes of NFL teams, they’re on equal footing. The 20-year draft registry shows 41 kickers and 39 punters. Interestingly, eight punters have been taken in the rich rounds of 2-4 compared to seven kickers.
Part 2, TE: Is Tyler Warren the next Great American NFL Tight End?
Part 5, QB: Do NFL scouts view Cam Ward & Shedeur Sanders as franchise quarterbacks?
Part 6, RB: 'Rare human being and a rare player,' but when to draft Ashton Jeanty?
Part 9, LB: Jihaad Campbell, Alabama's latest ass-kicker, leads class full of playmakers
Part 10, CB: The generational talent of Colorado's Travis Hunter
Part 11, S: Why Malaki Starks, 'A+ across the board,' can run your defense
Learn more about the player and the person through a scouting lens below with Part 12 of McGinn’s series…
KICKERS
1. ANDRES BORREGALES, Miami (5-11, 202, 6-7): Four-year starter. “If you’re looking for the most consistent field-goal kicker this is probably the guy,” one special-teams coach said.