Professional Soccer players joining the NFL

if they can kick it through the uprights consistently I dont think anyone cares where the guy comes from. This dude though, I dont think really realizes all that it takes to become a kicker in the NFL. My guess is that he boots the shit out of the soccer ball over there, only really occasionally watches football - says "I can do that" when he sees the kicker and now its a story. There are fat drunks I tailgate with that can kick the ball pretty far. Having dudes run at you, 6'5 dudes jumping 30 inches in the air, in the pissing rain, while you try to fit it through an 18ft wide square is another story. Especially since you better do so at a 80% MINIMUM clip.

 

Had to check to make sure you weren't looking at an archived article. Pro soccer players have been coming to the NFL since the 60's, ever heard of Garo Yepremian? He played pro soccer in London so when he came to the US he could not play NCAA soccer like his brother, he just decided to skip college and go straight to the NFL.

 

Didnt Tony Meola try out for the Jets back in the day? How'd that workout?

Maybe 1 or 2 guys that play pro soccer can make it as an NFL kicker but they would need to have accuracy skill. Its more than just kicking the shit out of a ball.

 

yes id imagine they dont need to have any accuracy in that soccer game they play. i am sure many of them could do it if they put the effort into learning to kick an oblong ball.

 

Kicking a soccer ball and a football are two way different things.

Plus kicking with a holder makes it different too.

With all the bad kickers in the league you would think NFL teams would be kicking down these soccer players' doors if they were able to do the job

So why arent they?

 

Plus pro soccer players are pussies.

_

 

turns out that soccer is a bigger sport worldwide than football. also pays better.

 

Wasn't really what I was asking. Obviously a star soccer player isn't going to take a 2 million dollar contract over a 15 million one.

But that still isn't keeping NFL teams from sending these guys offers.

Hitting a baseball and a tennis ball is more similar IMO. So why isn't Mike Trout an amazing tennis player too?

If any soccer player thinks they can make the change with ease they are foolish.

 

Straight through the uprights!

 

Something tells me Mike Trout is a phenomenal tennis player...

 

Hes pretty good at everything. Hes from my town. Watched him grow up, use to ump for spare bucks.

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And you don't get brain damage

That said soccer is an insufferable bore played by pansy eurotrash. It's absolute garbage.

 

Every single kicker in the NFL has kicked soccer style since Jan Stenerud.

 

Maybe. But I was just using him as an example cause he's arguable the best baseball player in the league right now. And even if he was really good , would he be good enough to go up against professional tennis players? Cause thats basically what this article suggests. And I just dont think thats the case.

Good college kickers arent even good enough to kick in the NFL in most cases. So like I asked before , with all the mediocre kickers bouncing around from team to team , why havent NFL teams tried to lure a soccer player over here to do the job?

Not every soccer player makes a Ronaldo salary , so money isnt a good argument.

 

You make a good point about good college kickers not finding a job.

There is often not even much job availability for kickers. Teams only keep 1, so really there are only 32 spots available in the entire world to begin with. Furthermore its also a position that being relatively cheap, relatively less prone to injury, and relatively based on familiarity - there is very little turn over to begin with. In some ways that is good, when someone gets a job they usually keep it for a long time, but that means little opportunities for new guys. Its not like defensive tackle or something where teams keep a lot, often stash players on the roster or on the practice squad, lots of injuries or job movement create opportunity, etc. none of that is available for kickers.

In a given year I mean there might only 1 or 2 new jobs that even come available. And then a new entry would have to compete with even veteran kickers for that spot. That makes it one of the hardest damn positions to crack into. The chances that this soccer player could become a good "NFL-level" placekicker are slim. But that doesn't even begin to get him remotely close to finding a job in the NFL, thats a whole new level of slim to none.

I have a friend actually that was a damn good college kicker. got a "cup of coffee" with a few teams in their camps. He mentioned this as the single toughest part, just getting an opportunity. Another thing that is tough about the position is that after college, there isn't really many places to keep fresh because its so specialized. My friend used to go to the local high school and kick everyday to stay fresh, but its hard to show or explain that to NFL scouts. My friend said like 90% of the battle is finding an opportunity and that you'll be amazed how many good kickers that are out there without a job. Its also a position where teams don't like to take risks. If the incumbent is doing a decent enough job teams are fine with that. New kickers could even outperform the incumbent in practice but not get the job because its "too risky" to work in a new kicker. Its really pretty fascinating

 

Agreed that it does seem tough for new guys to break-in. Teams seem to like the established guy when their kicker spot is a open competition. But at the same time there are a lot of flat out bad college kickers. Like some that I really would love to know how they got a scholarship to kick at a bigtime school. So its not a shock to me why most of em dont get a shot in the pros.

It seems that once a kicker proves atleast some ability to kick at the NFL level though ,he will get a 2nd chance , and a 3rd chance and in some cases a 4th.

Its why when any kicker gets released its usually the same 5-10 names that are brought in for tryouts to be his replacement. Who knows why exactly that is. Maybe teams see an "ice water in their veins" quality that will allow them to kick well in a high pressure situation.

Im sure a lot of guys suffer from a mental lapse and could easily get down on themselves after missing a big field goal..that whole "kickers arent really NFL players" mindset that most players have toward them cant be fun when you just missed a kick that would've won the game.

 

I'm not so sure about soocer players, but it surprises me that at least one or two rugby guys haven't made the transition. They get paid a comparative pittance as pro rugby players and many of their skills would translate. Players like Jonny Wilkinson might have had a chance at being a kicker (he was a phenomenal tackler as well, in his prime), while someone like a Rob Kearney looks to have the skillset for a punter.

 

I think the Niners signed a rugby kid last year and he made their roster but was released shortly after the start of the season. I remember him returning some punts.

 

im sure that the running down the field and tackling a guy part is another reason many of them dont even try. i am willing to bet however that most if not all kickers played soccer at some point in their lives.