NFL kickers are not getting any better at extra points. In fact, they’re getting worse.
After a bad day of kicking on Sunday, the NFL’s league-wide success rate on extra point kicks is just 92.9 percent. That’s the lowest mark since 1979, when kickers made 91.3 percent of extra points.
The NFL moved extra point kicks back by 13 yards in 2015, which made the kicks noticeably harder, but there was a widespread belief at the time that kickers would adjust and improve over time. That hasn’t happened. Here’s the extra point success rate for each of the last eight seasons, dating back to the last season before the NFL made extra points harder:
2021: 92.9 percent through Sunday.
2020: 93.0 percent.
2019: 93.9 percent.
2018: 94.3 percent.
2017: 94.0 percent.
2016: 93.6 percent.
2015: 94.2 percent.
2014: 99.3 percent.
Far from kickers getting better at the longer extra points with time to adjust, they have actually gotten a little worse. And this year’s accuracy rate is more likely to go down than go up, as kicking gets a little more difficult as weather turns colder.
Meanwhile, two-point conversion attempts have been successful 55 percent of the time this season. Meaning on average, a two-point conversion attempt will yield 1.1 points, and an extra point kick will yield 0.9 points. Teams ought to go for two more often, as extra point kicks are no longer automatic.
