Are Kickers Real Football Players?

A football team is made up of individual positions and even though some argue that there are some positions on the field are more important than others- I believe they are all the same.  You can’t have a complete team without a quarterback or a safety, you can’t possibly have a full team without a running back or if you’re missing a linebacker.  Out of all positions that a football team consist of, kickers and punters get the first place trophy for the “most overlooked” position- I’m sure everyone can agree with that.  Trust me, I know.  

Take a step back though and allow me to ask- at the fate of the kicker’s foot, how many games have they won?  I’d say plenty.1  But if we’re being real, kickers lose some games too.  It’s easy to point the finger to that sole player that majority of people know as “kicker” and not his name, it’s easy to blame the guy that only has “one job”;  but how about the other 59 minutes of the game that were played by his teammates.  If a team losses it’s not always the kickers fault, earlier in the game there could have been an overthrown ball that resulted in an interception, or a fumbled ball from the running back, or maybe a missed tackle from a safety that allowed the other team to score almost effortlessly; yet kickers get most of the heat when they miss a kick.1  

“Well kickers don’t tackle, they don’t catch, or throw.  All they do is kick.”, agreed, but who decided to become a receiver or a linebacker instead?  If those positions are all part of a football team, then so is a kicker.  The team losses together and they win together, it’s just the nature of the game.  

1Morris, B. (n.d.). And It's Good 7:26 AM Jan 28, 2015 Kickers Are Forever. Retrieved February 02, 2016, from http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/kickers-are-forever/