As the NFL Salary cap consistently goes up, so will NFL contracts. Over the next two years you will see records fall at every position. It’s just the nature of the NFL. Since the offseason is agonizingly long, each week I will profile a different position to tell you who is the next man up for the Biggest NFL Contract. This week: Special Teams.
Quarterback
The Next Biggest NFL Contract Series
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Offensive Tackle
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Cornerback
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Special Teams
Finally! The wait is over. It is time for the most requested position profile of the offseason. EVERYONE wants to know who is going to be the next highest paid kicker and punter. Kidding aside, kickers and punters used to be on the same salary scale, but that has changed over the last few years. Without further ado…
AAV
- Kickers: Brandon Aubrey and Chris Boswell – $7m
- Punters: Jordan Stout – $4.1m
We are in the midst of a kicker evolution in the NFL. Kicking a 50 yard field goal used to be a big deal and 60 was damn near impossible. 9 kickers hit from 60+ last year. The first to cash in on this was Brandon Aubrey from Dallas and his 11 50+ yard makes last year. Chris Boswell of the Steelers would tie him a few weeks later. Sebastian Janikowski became the first $4m kicker back in 2010, but kickers wouldn’t top $5m until 2019 with disgraced Raven Justin Tucker.
When John Harbaugh left the Ravens, he made sure to take one important piece with him. That’s right, free agent Jordan Stout came to New York to be the richest punter in NFL history! Yes, this is a cheap shot at the Giants, but since Shane Lechler became the first $4m punter back in 2009, the high number has barely moved. Michael Dickson broke the record 16 years later and just barely at $4.05m in 2025. Stout only topped him by an extra $50k.
Unlike the punter market, expect a big leap coming for kickers unless the NFL does something to curb the 60+ yard bombs.
Total Value
- Kickers: Brandon Aubrey and Chris Boswell – $28m
- Punters: Michael Dickson – $16.2m
Jerry Jones loves giving out big contracts,1 especially to kickers apparently. Back in 2014, Jones made Dan Bailey the highest paid kicker ever with a 7/$22.5m deal. History repeated itself a dozen years later with Aubrey. Bailey’s deal wasn’t topped until 2022 when the Falcons signed Younghoe Koo for $24.25m. Throw in Justin Tucker’s $24m deal later that same year and we keep seeing the highest paid kicker deals not working out. Of course, Harrison Butker has been in the conversation since 2019 and he’s been consistently good.2 What does this mean for Aubrey and Boswell? Well, it’s tough to stay on top as a kicker in the NFL.
Back in 2012, the Saints gave Thomas Morestead a 6/$21.885m contract. Yes, there was a time that punters had bigger contracts than kickers. Since then, Johnny Hekker signed a $21m deal and an $18.8m deal but those are still the 3 biggest ever. The combination of fewer years and no movement in the AAV market has stunted the overall growth for the position.
Total Guarantee –
- Kickers: Brandon Aubrey – $20m
- Punters: A.J. Cole – $10m
Shane Lechler received a $9m guarantee back in 2009. Morestead would top this with his deal, but until Cole received $10m from his 4/$15.8m contract in 2025 did any punter guarantee 8 figures.
Kickers topped 8 figures back in 2015 when the Patriots gave Stephen Gostkowski $10.1m guaranteed with his 4/$17.2m deal. This was coming off a rarely used kicker franchise tag. Justin Tucker used that to top him the next year and held the top of the market for the next 8 years until Harrison Butker took Tucker’s $17.5m and raised it to $17.75m. One of the reasons Aubrey’s deal took so long to negotiate was because he was holding out for a position pushing guarantee.
Who’s Next?
Traditionally place kickers aren’t taken for granted. Doing their job when they make it and failing when they don’t. It is more of an exhale position than a celebrated one. That was until about 2 years ago when they turned into weapons. If you have a kicker who can legitimately make it from 65 yards, that’s basically midfield. All of a sudden, he’s bailing out your stagnant offense. Cam Little is 22 and hit from 68 yards last year with 88% overall accuracy. Will Reichard is 24, hit from 62, made 94% of his tries and was first team All Pro. Both are up for extensions this season.
What makes a good punter? Is it touchback percentage? Is it average punt distance? I couldn’t tell you. What I do know is that as a fan, when you have a good punter, you barely think about it. When you have a bad one, you can’t help but think it’s a disaster every time they kick. How do you put that in contract candidate terms? Good teams cannot afford to have a bad punter. That’s why the Eagles locked up Braden Mann and the Seahawks have Michael Dickson. This is normally the place where you pencil in the Dallas Cowboys, but Bryan Anger is going to be 40 next year. He probably is not going to get a 4 year contract of some kind. Daniel Whelen of the Packers would be a good candidate since he is 25 and led the league in average punt last year but he is also 2 years away from free agency. Ryan Rhekow of the Bengals was great last season but he also plays for a team not expected to contend and constant salary cap issues. How about “punt god” Matt Araiza, since cleared of his sexual assault allegations? While some teams may shy away from such publicity, that isn’t really the case for the Chiefs.
Contract Terms
Projecting a good kicker from year to year is impossible, but we have a taste of what is possible with Little and Reichard. If either keeps the accuracy around 90% and have some highlight reel 60 yarders, they will be in the same situation as Aubrey was this offseason with Dallas. They can’t afford not to sign them. That means record deals. Aubrey could be seen as just the tip of the iceberg with kickers. While I don’t think we are looking at $10m per year guys yet, they are not too far off. The smart money is on a 4/$32m deal being signed since neither is headed directly to free agency. However, if one gets that deal, it is very possible to see the other get 4/$34m and $8.5m AAV.
Punters do not have the same weapon leg to kick on, that’s why their deals are going to continue staying down. They are moving up in $50k increments right now. That’s not good. My guess is that we will all know exactly when this market is about to go boom because it will look a lot like what is happening with kickers. Once someone starts averaging 60 yards on a kick and can consistently reverse the field, that will be the guy. We aren’t there yet. The first 4/$20m deal is still probably 2+ years away. Expect the next “big” one to be in the $4.5m per season range and around 4/$18m.
- This is what made his refusal to do it for Micah Parsons, the one guy EVERYONE knew he had to make the highest paid, so ridiculous ↩︎
- On the field. His Handmaid’s Tale philosophy off the field is problematic as all hell ↩︎
Contracts from Spotrac: Kickers and Punters
Photo: Keith Allison: Flickr, e-mail, Twitter, Instagram, website, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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