Side jobs, game-winners and uncertain futures: Welcome to the world of NFL kickers

PARKER ROMO DOES not embellish when asked about the job he recently left. He describes his role as outside services supervisor at a golf course in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in the simplest terms.

"It's like a fancy way of saying 'glorified cart boy,'" he said.

The nearly 8,000-yard track at The Blessings Golf Club is a sought-after course, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., and ranked second in the state by Golf Digest. But as much as Romo might have enjoyed mingling with golfers, he was there in part because the early-morning schedule allowed him to leave afternoons open to stay sharp for the job he actually aspired to.

That's why there was no hesitation when the opportunity arose in November.

The Minnesota Vikings called; they needed a kicker after Will Reichard sustained a right quad injury on Nov. 4. Romo was invited to audition.

One day Romo was arranging golf carts and maintaining the driving range, the next he was on a flight to Minneapolis for the chance of a lifetime -- however temporary it proved to be.

Welcome to the world of NFL kickers.

They have one of the most unique paths to the NFL, seeing as the majority are undrafted -- just 37 kickers have been drafted in the past 20 years. Landing a spot on an active roster can be a years-long process, and staying in the league can be equally challenging because kickers are often seen as replaceable. It's a profession defined by uncertainty, pressure and the chance to be a hero -- or villain.

"To [teams], they're expendable," said Gary Zauner, a former NFL special teams coordinator and now a private kicking coach who has helped numerous prospects get to the NFL.

For every established kicker like the Baltimore Ravens' Justin Tucker or the Kansas City Chiefs' Harrison Butker, there are a dozen others waiting by the phone.

Guys like Romo.

He beat out four others during a tryout in front of the Vikings brass and was signed to the active roster. In his first game, he went 4-for-4, providing all of Minnesota's offense in a 12-7 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Finding the confidence to step into that situation and succeed required more than practicing his technique.

"It might be cliché, but it really is 99 percent mental and 1 percent physical," said Romo, who signed with the New England Patriots' practice squad on Monday.

The importance of mental toughness not only describes the act of kicking but also the journey most kickers travel on their way to the NFL. When money inevitably gets tight, when hope begins to dwindle, do they have what it takes to hold on to the dream?

"You've got to be very comfortable being uncomfortable," said Spencer Shrader, who has been on three rosters this season and filled in for an injured Butker. Shrader then suffered his own injury and was placed on injured reserve Dec. 4. He was replaced by Matthew Wright.

The turnover at the position is reflected by the fact that there have been 10 kickers this season who did not attempt a kick last season. In this decade, there has been an average of 43.6 kickers per season -- including 43 this season -- compared with an average of 39.1 in the 2010s.

"You've got to understand that you're going to face adversity," Shrader said, "and you're going to go through ups and downs. And it's the guys who can persevere through that who I think end up having long-term success."

LUCAS HAVRISIK NEVER envisioned himself as a gym teacher. But in the fall of 2022, he had considerable time on his hands -- but not much money. So he took on a job as a substitute middle school teacher near Tucson, Arizona.

The former University of Arizona kicker, who went undrafted in 2021, had just spent a week on the Indianapolis Colts' practice squad, but nothing materialized.

"You've got to have something outside of football when you're a free agent," he said. "I wasn't making much money, but it was cool just to [teach] and experience it, because the reality is when football's done, you've got to have a regular job. So I was just trying to learn and explore what I actually want to do."

Substitute teaching is not exactly a path to prosperity, but Havrisik was lucky. George and Crystal Soltero, whom he had befriended at church, let him stay in their home free of charge while he continued to pursue a roster spot.

"I was super fortunate," Havrisik said. "The family housed me. I didn't really have a place to go. I didn't have much money. But they welcomed me in."

It's the sort of dilemma many kickers face. First, for those who are undrafted, there's the initial decision of whether to chase that elusive shot at the NFL. Then, there's the challenge of how to navigate the state of limbo that can linger between making that decision and -- hopefully -- landing on a roster.

For Havrisik, the grace extended by his host family allowed him to keep working on his kicking without much concern for finances. He became more serious about his routine after that first season post-college in 2022 failed to yield results beyond a single, futile tryout with the Green Bay Packers. He eventually settled into a solid routine with practice sessions, emulating the weekly pace of a typical NFL team: day off on Tuesday, kick on Wednesday and Thursday, rest on Friday and Saturday, then play on Sunday.

The next year, 2023, was better. Havrisik joined the Cleveland Browns' practice squad and later was signed by the Los Angeles Rams for a spot on their active roster. That was the break he needed. Havrisik converted 15 of 20 field goal attempts over nine weeks and earned his first substantive NFL checks.

He returned to the Browns on a futures contract in January and has alternated between signed and unsigned numerous times this year with the Browns and Buffalo Bills. Havrisik is currently unsigned.

Teams first call veterans with track records when they need a kicker, and then kickers with whom they have familiarity. It's part of the reason Cleveland welcomed Havrisik back earlier this year. Staying in the mix also requires significant effort on the part of players' agents, who often have to leverage relationships in NFL front offices to get their players into workouts.

Detroit Lions kicker Jake Bates might be one of this season's feel-good stories, but that couldn't have been predicted two years ago when he was working as a salesperson for manufacturer Acme Brick in Houston. Bates was such a long shot that his agent, Marty Magid, originally took him on as a favor to a kicking coach he knows.

"I had GMs tell me he'd never kick in the NFL," Magid said.

Bates has gone 21-of-23 for the NFC-leading Lions and firmly established himself as a key option for the 12-2 Super Bowl contenders. But that didn't happen until after he'd gone through failed attempts to make NFL rosters with Tampa Bay and Houston, then opted to play in the UFL, where he caught fire.

For Romo, his income from the golf course combined with his wife's pharmacist salary helped the couple buy their first home ahead of the birth of their second child.

Bates, Romo and the others are in good company.

Even an all-time great like Adam Vinatieri, who went undrafted out of South Dakota State in 1996, waited tables before landing a spot in the now-defunct NFL Europe and, eventually, the NFL. All he did after that was go on to become the NFL's all-time leader in field goals (599) and win four Super Bowls -- three with the New England Patriots and one with the Colts.

"When I sign kickers and long-snappers, I usually tell them it's going to take a couple years," Magid said. "You're probably going to have to get a job. And when that call comes, you got to be ready."

RODRIGO BLANKENSHIP ENJOYED a much different path to the NFL than most kickers. Although he was not drafted out of Georgia in 2020, he was in high demand as a rookie free agent. He opted to sign with the Colts, agreeing to a deal that came with a $20,000 signing bonus. An average undrafted rookie gets around $5,000 up front.

For two-plus seasons, the job in Indy was his. That remained true even after he battled a hip injury in 2021 and the Colts elected to stick with replacement Michael Badgley during the season's final stretch, when Blankenship was healthy enough to return to the lineup.

After winning a preseason battle ahead of the 2022 season, Blankenship got off to a shaky start. He missed a 42-yard field goal attempt that would have won the season opener, and the Colts were left to settle for a tie with the Houston Texans. He also had two wayward kickoffs in that game, giving the Texans possession at the 40-yard line in each instance.

Two days later, Blankenship was waived.

If a starting defensive back or wide receiver has a bad week or two, the worst consequence he is likely to suffer is the loss of his starting job or a reduction in playing time. For kickers, the stakes are much higher. A stretch of poor performance can land them on the waiver wire.

Even for kickers who find success, staying power can be difficult to achieve.

Wright became the third Chiefs kicker to convert a game-winning field goal as time expired this season, the first time that has happened in NFL history. Wright was named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week last week after going 4-for-4 in a 19-17 win over the Los Angeles Chargers on Dec. 8 that clinched the Chiefs' ninth straight AFC West title. Seven days later, Wright was waived as Butker returned from injury.

Butker then missed his only attempt Sunday.

Romo was 11-of-12 with the Vikings, but he was waived on Dec. 7 as Reichard returned from injury. Reichard is 0-for-1 since returning.

"It's slim pickings," said the Colts' Matt Gay, who became a Pro Bowl kicker after being cut by Tampa Bay in 2020, one season after the Buccaneers drafted him in the fifth round. "You're not going to be third or fourth string on a team. There's like one guy on each team.

"So taking advantage of the opportunities when you get them is important."

Meanwhile, Blankenship is seeking the kind of second chance Gay got from the Rams, the team he joined shortly after his release from the Buccaneers. But, lately, opportunities have been scarce.

"After getting there and then being out of the cycle and now trying to get back in, now I feel like this is even more difficult than it was to get in in the first place," said Blankenship, who has had short stints with the Arizona Cardinals and Buccaneers since departing Indianapolis.

"I think something that a lot of people probably don't realize is that there is a guideline and a certain set of steps and a path that you can follow up to a certain point to get you in the first time. But when you're trying to get back in, there's no template for what that looks like."

Blankenship was invited to workouts with Jacksonville and Arizona shortly after his release from Indianapolis two years ago. The Cardinals signed him. He spent much of the 2023 offseason with Tampa Bay but was waived in the preseason. Blankenship had a workout with the Steelers earlier this year but nothing came of it. He has been waiting for his next opportunity ever since.

He's facing a couple of harsh realities. Blankenship said teams have told his agent they have concerns about his injury history. Other clubs have expressed unease about how much time has passed since he last kicked in the NFL.

If nothing materializes between now and the spring, Blankenship's plan is to pursue a spot in the UFL, hoping he can use it to reestablish himself the way Bates and the Dallas Cowboys' Brandon Aubrey used the league to land on the radar of NFL teams. To that end, he recently participated in a kicking showcase in San Diego where UFL teams come looking for talent.

"I definitely want to explore every option," Blankenship said.

NFL TEAMS USUALLY employ a special teams coordinator and an assistant special teams coach who oversee the entire kicking game, but a typical NFL staff doesn't always have someone with expertise in kicking.

This setup has frustrated Zauner for years. Why, he asks, do NFL teams employ specialized coaches for quarterbacks, offensive linemen and practically every other unit, but have no one to specifically coach specialists?

"You develop a quarterback, right?" Zauner said. "Well, that's not happening with kickers, punters and snappers."

Only a handful of kickers are invited to the NFL scouting combine, leaving other prospects to hope they are properly evaluated at one of several private events held by instructors like Zauner, who hosts separate spring combines for draft prospects and for free agent kickers.

For those banking on campus pro days, they have to hope scouts are paying attention.

"You have to usually have someone to facilitate the workout at your pro day, or else the scouts will just move on," said Adam Tanalski, who runs the Hammer Kicking Academy and is Romo's private coach. "It's like, 'Oh, the kicker's kicking. Let's go get ready for the 40 [yard dash].'

"If you don't have someone really facilitating your pro day, you might not even get seen."

Most kickers go to great lengths to work with private coaches during the offseason, which is their opportunity to fine-tune technique. Blankenship, for instance, relocated to Birmingham, Alabama, where his coach is based. Blankenship and his wife have since embraced the city and have made it their permanent home.

"With the special teams coaches, by and large, they're not coaching kicking mechanics," Blankenship said. "So I do think that is something that's different for us compared to a lot of these other [players].

"You might miss a kick to the left, and instead of a coach being able to say, 'OK, well you missed left because such and such happened,' they might say, 'Oh, you missed left. On the next one, you need to aim more right.'

"It's not quite that simple."

But even with all the challenges in getting to and staying in the NFL, reaching the goal makes it all worth it.

"We might just be crazy weirdos that are just built for this," Havrisik said.

Romo said he gave himself two years from the first time he was cut to find his way back onto a roster or he'd "decide to hang it up." His time with the Vikings marked a significant step in the right direction.

And now that he has gotten a taste of his dream, he wants it more than ever, though it might have to be with another team.

"I want to continue to do this as long as I can," he said.