Chiefs ST Coach Hoffman Places Emphasis On Leg Strength Over Accuracy

by Joel Thorman on Feb 14, 2010 8:30 AM CST in 2010 Kansas City Chiefs Season

When we're looking at kickers in the NFL, what's the first (and perhaps only) statistic that's mentioned?

Field goal accuracy.

That's all that matters, right? Either you're making the kicks or you're not.

Not so, according to Kansas City Chiefs special teams coach Steve Hoffman. While working out for the Chiefs last year, former MU kicker Jeff Wolfert said Hoffman told him he values leg strength more than accuracy.

"For a kicker who made 86.3 percent of his field goal attempts from inside of 50 yards in his collegiate career, it would be reasonable to assume that accuracy was translate to the pro game," Robert Mays of the Columbia Missourian wrote. "But in speaking with Chief's special teams coach Steve Hoffman following his tryout, Wolfert learned that accuracy wasn't as valued as he once thought. Hoffman told him that he wanted someone who could put kickoffs through the back of the endzone. He could teach anybody to kick field goals."

The Chiefs ended up drafting Ryan Succop and, judging by Hoffman's comments, it's easy to see why. At 6'3", 224 pounds, Succop has demonstrated a stronger leg than many other kickers.

Wolfert, 6'2", 185 pounds, may boot 'em through at a more than reasonable rate under 50 yards, but kickoffs are an area that NFL personnel men apparently value higher than we might have previously thought.

(H/T WTexKC for the first FanShot)

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You just blew UC's mind.

"The first step to penetration... must not be lateral"
-Confucius

by ArrowSpread on Feb 14, 2010 9:13 AM CST reply actions

LOL

That’s what I was thinking the whole time!

Arrowhead Pride

by Joel Thorman on Feb 14, 2010 9:15 AM CST up reply actions

That was a great thread...

I like Crawford’s posts… but he couldn’t have been more wrong with his opinion on that Succup.

Go Chiefs!!!!

by ravenhawk on Feb 14, 2010 9:17 AM CST reply actions

If you read Football Outsiders

You’ll see that accuracy is mostly random from year to year among NFL kickers, and the only consistent trait of a kicker is kickoff length. Maybe the Chiefs are catching on to the fact that there is more than just conventional stats when evaluating performance.

by Narghile on Feb 14, 2010 10:20 AM CST reply actions

That was the mistake drafting Medlock. He had no leg strength in College, but he was accurate. With us he was neither. I’m glad we have rectified our thinking on kickers.

by dablueguy on Feb 14, 2010 3:55 PM CST reply actions