The top 3 highest-paid kickers in the NFL
Many NFL kickers make the league's minimum salary $610,000 per year. After all, they don't play at the league's premier position. Even Yunghoe Koo, the NFL's leader in points through NFL Week 12, makes $660,000, barely higher than the minimum.
But several established veteran kickers have cemented themselves as reliable players. As a result, they have received significant paydays.
3. Giants kicker Graham Gano, $4.66 million per NFL season
After Graham Gano spent 10 years in the NFL, he recently inked a three-year, $14 million contract extension with the New York Giants. As a result, he's one of the kickers with the highest salaries in the NFL.
Gano has made 249 of his career 299 field goal attempts. The 33-year-old has completed 96.2% of his field goals in 2020 and 17 of 17 extra points. His longest field goal of 2020 is a 55-yarder, but his career-long is 63 yards.
2. 49ers kicker Robbie Gould, $4.75 million per NFL season
Coming off a 2018 season in which he lead the NFL with 39 field goals made, Robbie Gould earned a sizable contract. The San Francisco 49ers gave him one, as the team signed signed him to a four-year, $19 million contract.
Entering the 2020 season, Gould, 38, had played 15 years in the NFL for three different teams. Before he signed with San Francisco, he played for the Chicago Bears and the Giants. He remains one of the most accurate kickers in NFL history.
1. Ravens kicker Justin Tucker, $5.0 million per NFL season
Widely considered the best kicker in the NFL, Justin Tucker is naturally the league's highest-paid player at the position. He has risen to stardom throughout his career with the Baltimore Ravens. Tucker is signed to a four-year, $20 million contract with $12.5 million guaranteed.
Tucker has only played in nine NFL seasons. But he has alread led the league in field goals made twice. He currently holds the best field goal rate (91%) in modern NFL history.
"He's the best kicker in the history of the league, right?" Patriots coach Bill Belichick said in 2019. "I mean, yeah. We were fortunate enough to block one against him the last time we played him, but it's not easy." It was certainly high praise when one of the best NFL coaches of all time acknowledged Tucker.
