Steelers kicker Chris Boswell kicks a field goal against Texans during the first quarter of their AFC Wild Card playoff on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, at Acrisure Stadium. (Christopher Horner | TribLive)
Christian Kuntz is surely a little biased, but the Pittsburgh Steelers long snapper says Chris Boswell is the best kicker in the world. Good enough, in fact, to maybe challenge the NFL record for longest field goal.
“He could hit a 68- or 70-yard field goal,” Kuntz said after practice at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. “If we’ve got the wind on our back, he can use the wind to kick a 75-yard field goal.”
Those yardages were considered absurdly out of reach for any NFL kicker even a few years ago. But, nowadays, a growing number of them are making kicks from distances once unthinkable.
Nine kickers combined to make an unprecedented 12 field goals from 60 yards or farther last season, a record-setting effort that Boswell joined. His franchise-best 60-yarder backed up his reputation as one of the top long-distance weapons in football.
But in that regard, he’s not alone.
Boswell, 35, credits a few factors for the league-wide power surge that is making 50-yarders look rather routine. First, his 12 years of experience says that kickers are simply getting better and stronger.
But he also acknowledges how the new rules for preparing the “K-balls” — the footballs used exclusively by the specialists — play a part as well. Starting last season, teams received the footballs weeks early rather than on gameday.
“The football helps a little bit, you know, being able to beat ’em in a couple of weeks early or a couple of months early, however early they get them,” Boswell said. “But it’s just guys performing at a high level and just kind of piggybacking off one another. Guys across the league are just smashing football right now, and it’s really cool to see.”
The latest mindboggling example was a 69-yarder by the Chiefs’ Harrison Butker in an Aug. 22 preseason game. It was 1 yard short of a 70-yarder knocked through by the Jaguars’ Cam Little in a preseason game last summer. Neither counted in the NFL record book, however.
Little officially broke the NFL record with a 68-yarder last November in Las Vegas. He also made a 67-yarder last season.
Is there a limit for kickers?
“Who knows?” Boswell said. “I don’t have an answer for that one.”
In 1970, a 63-yarder by the Saints’ Tom Dempsey became the first field goal in NFL history from 60 or farther. That feat wasn’t accomplished again until the Browns’ Steve Cox made a 60-yarder in 1984, followed by the Saints’ Morten Andersen in 1991.
For decades, they stayed rare.
Combined, NFL kickers have made 52 field goals of 60 yards or more in the regular season, according to various lists, including one compiled by ESPN. All but four came since 2006.
In fact, half were kicked in the past four seasons.
“It’s crazy,” Steelers special teams coach Danny Crossman said. “I think it’s a combination of players getting better and how they’re training. They’re getting bigger and stronger. I mean, you look at the size of the kickers now in comparison to what it was 10 years ago. They were all 5-8, 5-9. Now these days, a 5-11 guy is a short guy. They’re 6-1 to 6-3, long-levered and can pound it.”
Crossman, 59, is a veteran special teams coach, having worked as a coordinator for 33 years at either the college or NFL level. This is his first season working with Boswell, who ranks among the bigger kickers at 6-2 and 185 pounds.
But Crossman also acknowledged how receiving an allotment of kicking balls much earlier makes a difference. From 1999 until last season, the NFL had tighter restrictions on how teams could prepare their K-balls.
“It used to be you’d get the balls for 20 minutes right before the game,” Crossman said. “Now you get an allotment of balls, and you have literally weeks and weeks to have those balls where you’re able to do stuff with them. Now, you can’t go ‘old school’ and throw them in a dryer, and I’m sure some of you guys remember some of those stories. You can’t do that.”
Under the current arrangement, Crossman said officials inspect the kicker balls prepared by a team, approving some and rejecting others just before the game.
“They still do a good job of it, but it makes a difference,” Crossman said. “More importantly, the players are outstanding. That’s the key.”
Boswell’s accuracy on long-range kicks isn’t new. He owns an 82.5% success rate on field goals from 50 yards or more that ranks best in NFL history among kickers with at least 60 attempts from that distance.
He broke his own franchise record with a 60-yard field goal in Week 1 of last season at the Jets. Kuntz said he consistently finds himself impressed by Boswell’s ability.
“Every time I snap and then look up, like, ‘Where’s the ball?’ It’s halfway up the field goal post, and we’re at midfield,” Kuntz said. “It’s kind of remarkable that he’s able to manipulate a ball like that and kick it how he wants and where he wants. That’s why he’s the best kicker in the world.”
Breaking a league record requires ability and opportunity. The field goal record Dempsey set in 1970 stood for 43 years until the Broncos’ Matt Prater kicked a 64-yarder in 2013. Prater’s record kick came as time expired in the first half against the Titans.
The Ravens’ Justin Tucker bettered Prater with a 66-yarder in 2021, only to have his record bested last season by Little, a 23-year-old former sixth-round pick of the Jaguars. Crossman predicted that Little’s record of 68 yards likely gets surpassed sometime soon.
“If you’re willing to take the opportunity, I think it’s out there,” Crossman said. “I see it changing probably again in the next year or two, because teams are willing to take that opportunity and take that risk, and points are points.”
About the Writer
Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.