Column | Shrink the field goal posts

Kickers have become too good. Like, scary good. They have made watching the National Football League far less entertaining because the kickers are the offense.

In the first week of the NFL season, I watched the Pittsburgh Steelers kick six field goals and not score any touchdowns. It was boring, and I wanted to tear my eyes out while watching the inept Steelers offense just try to get to the 40-ish-yard line so they could lineup kicker Chris Boswell for yet another field goal.

Through three weeks of action, the Steelers have only scored three touchdowns and have kicked ten field goals. Boswell is the Steelers’ offense, and it just is not fun to watch every single weekend. 

Don’t get me wrong — the Steelers’ defense is one of the best in the NFL, and I look forward to watching them play. But watching the offense just try to get the ball into field goal range is truly brutal to watch.

It’s not just the Steelers having their offense only score via the field goal. In the second week of the NFL, the Washington Commanders scored all 21 of their points through the right foot of kicker Austin Seibert. While I didn’t watch the Commanders-Giants game, I can imagine a lot of Commanders fans were not excited to see Seibert become their entire offense rather than letting their second-overall draft pick quarterback Jaden Daniels lead the Commanders to a thrilling victory.

So, how do we stop these kickers from becoming the entire offense of NFL teams? One idea is to remove the position and have a position player kick instead. Or the NFL could take away the field goal posts because why are we kicking in American football in the first place — kicking belongs in the other football. 

While these are great ideas, there is one solution that makes the most sense to me. 

Shrinking the field goalposts. Make these teams earn their three points.

A smaller field goal post would force teams like the Steelers and Commanders to play far riskier on the offensive side of the ball. The Steelers wouldn’t settle for the 40-ish-yard line for their new and supposedly improved offense led by quarterback Justin Fields. And the Commanders would have to let their first-round draft pick, Daniels, lead an offensive touchdown in a win and not lean on the right leg of a recently signed free-agent kicker. 

Kickers are making 78.8% of their kicks from 50 yards or more. That’s far too consistent for a kick that was super risky 10 years ago. Kickers are also making 84.8% of their field goal attempts. 

Kicking a ball through uprights is too easy nowadays. The NFL should make the field goal posts smaller so kickers aren’t the offense and the actual offensive unit scores the points.