When the Chargers are successful — and they have won four of six games this season — you can most often trace the results back to two elite components: the arm of Justin Herbert and the leg of Cameron Dicker.
The football world celebrates the former. Herbert has pinpoint precision, even when draped in defenders. But the latter, Dicker’s record-breaking reliability, has almost become an afterthought. He’s going to make his kicks.
Nearly 80% of NFL games were decided by one possession last season, underscoring the value of a kicker who can deliver three points time after time. For instance, Dicker tied a career high by kicking five field goals in the 29-27 win at the Dolphins, including the 33-yard clincher — and in his five seasons he has never missed a field goal of 40 yards or fewer.
“Boiled down to the base level, yeah, you kick a ball through the pipes,” said Dicker, 25, whose team plays host Sunday to the Indianapolis Colts. “But a lot goes into it. You’ve got to have a great holder, a great snapper, and then great field-goal protection. And then you have to be able to do your job at a high level to keep a job here in the NFL nowadays.”
Dicker has made 105 of 111 career field-goal attempts, giving him the best career percentage (94.6) in league history by a player with at least 100 attempts.
“This is a guy that, just under the radar, has continued to be absolutely excellent throughout his career,” said retired NFL kicker Jay Feely, who spent a decade as a CBS analyst. “He continually makes his kicks in the big moments and is becoming one of the best kickers in the NFL.”
Some of the league’s most significant changes are happening in the kicking game. Coaches are increasingly comfortable with long field-goal attempts, making 60 yards feel like the new 50.
The numbers back this up. Field-goal attempts of 50 yards or longer have nearly tripled since 2010, when there were 108 in the entire season. Through six weeks this season, there have been precisely that many, 108, meaning the league is on pace for almost 300.
What’s more, the accuracy of those long kicks has risen dramatically. Kickers made 54.6% of those attempts in 2010 but are currently making them at a 71.3% clip.
That has changed strategies. Now, drives that stall around midfield are no longer automatic punting situations but true scoring opportunities.
The NFL record for the longest field goal stood at 63 yards for 43 years — set first by Tom Dempsey, then tied by a handful of others — before Matt Prater made a 64-yarder in 2013. Longtime Baltimore kicker Justin Tucker has the record at 66 yards, but the booming Brandon Aubrey of the Dallas Cowboys has kicks of 65 and 64 yards. This past summer, Jacksonville’s Cam Little made a 70-yarder in a preseason game.
“I think there’s an increased confidence in coaches giving players the opportunity to go out there…” said Dicker, whose longest made kick is 59 yards. “I think guys in the past have had the ability to make long kicks and that some coaches haven’t trusted it at times. But you’re seeing a little bit of a change in that.”
Longtime NFL kicker turned kicking coach Michael Husted points to a number of factors in the evolution of the position. Players are starting younger and specializing in kicking, he said, as opposed to sampling other sports. Technology and analytics have made training more efficient and effective. Private coaching, which used to be somewhat exotic, is now commonplace. And people are taking the mental aspect of the game far more seriously.
“Back then, seeing a sports psychologist was, ‘What’s wrong with you?’” Husted said. “Now, mental training is part of a three-pronged approach: weight room, on-field and between the ears.”
Feely knew that life from two different angles. He played 14 seasons in the NFL, then watched his son, Jace, who kicked for Arizona State then Colorado.
“Kicking still comes down to your ability to handle failure,” Jay Feely said. “Every kicker is going to miss, and they’re going to miss critical kicks. Can you handle failure? Can you come back and not allow that to break you?
“A lot of kickers I’ve talked to didn’t retire because they couldn’t do it physically anymore. They were just done with the mental grind.”
As for Dicker, in those high-pressure moments, he leans heavily into his faith as a Christian for perspective.
“For me, at the end of the day, I know I’m loved regardless of what happens,” he said. “So I don’t really care if I make or miss kicks. I’ve got to go out there and do the best I can. And once I kick it, it’s off my hands.”
He finds it helpful to keep gratitude front and center.
“There’s a study I read that gratitude and anxiety come from the same place in your brain, and the two cannot coexist,” he said. “It’s an either-or situation.”
No matter the faith, Dicker delivers religiously.
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