Pittsburgh Maulers kicker Ramiz Ahmed has never played in an NFL game, but he may have earned himself a training camp tryout with his performance on Friday night.
Ahmed hit a 61-yard field goal, the longest yet in the USFL, in last night’s game. The kick cleared the cross bar by a couple yards and was made despite a somewhat sloppy hold that hat the laces pointing toward Ahmed. The kick also came a week after Ahmed hit a 58-yard field goal.
The success of Ahmed (as well as Cole Murphy of the Michigan Panthers, who has a 60-yard field goal to his credit) is a reminder of how much better kickers are than they used to be. In the entire decade of 2000-2009, there were only two field goals of 60 or more yards in the NFL. That’s about 2,500 games with the best kickers in the sport, and only twice did they make a 60-yard field goal. So far in this USFL season, through just 29 games, there have already been two 60-yard field goals.
Ahmed played his college football at Nevada and was in the Bears’ training camp in 2020.
