Placekicker

Placekicker is the title of the player on an American football team who is responsible for the kicking duties of field goals, extra points, and, in many cases, kickoffs.

The placekicker usually will only punt when the punter is injured, although sometimes one player handles both jobs. Because the skills are different enough, on the professional level most teams employ separate men to handle the jobs. Placekickers and punters are generally the poorest paid players on professional teams, although good placekickers sometimes earn over a million dollars per year in salary.

Amateur teams (college, high school, etc.) often do not differentiate between placekickers and punters, have different players assume different placekicking duties (like one person handles kicking off, anothers kicks long field goals, another kicks from shorter distances), or have regular position players handle kicking duties. The last option is quite common on high school teams, when the best athletes are often the best kickers too. Before the modern era of pro football, this was also the case for professional teams too.

Placekickers today are almost all "soccer-style" kickers, approaching the ball from several steps to the left or right of it and several steps behind. Before this method of kicking was popularized in the 1960s, almost every kicker was a "straight on" kicker, a style that does not include coming at the ball from the side at all, but rather from straight back.