Miami Dolphins At 50: Kickers and Punters

All the positions have been accounted for on these all-time top 10 lists except for the two that are usually the least regarded.

The kickers and punters play vital roles in the game of football – even though if the offense is doing its job their usage will be rare.

Punters and kickers can win games with their legs whether it’s by flipping the field position in at a critical time or making a last second field goal to win the contest.

Unlike the other lists, it would be a tad disingenuous to make a top 10 for both positions as there really all that many worthy candidates. So this list will count down the top five punters and top five kickers in Miami Dolphins history.

Mandatory Credit: MiamiDolphins.com.

Punters

No. 5 – John Kidd

It was between George Roberts and John Kidd for the fifth spot as both have practically the same amount of games played in Miami with nearly the same punting yardage.

The one thing Kidd did as a Dolphin was make almost every punting attempt count. His career average while in Miami was 44.2 yards per attempt which is second in franchise history.

Kidd was something of a journeyman during his career as he had punted for San Diego and Buffalo before becoming a Dolphin. Then he split his final season with the Jets and Lions.

In 1996, Kidd broke into the top 10 in single season punting. His 46.3 yards per attempt led the league that season and is fifth on the franchise’s single season punting list. His 3,611 yards is the ninth best punting campaign in club history as well.

Kidd’s 1996 campaign earned him the only honor of his career as he was voted to the All-Conference second team by UPI.

He played four seasons as a Dolphin racking up 8,893 yards on 201 attempts in 49 contests. Kidd is only one of two punters in franchise history with over 200 attempts and zero blocked punts.

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Kickers

No. 5 – Uwe von Schamann

Coming from the Land of Chocolate, Uwe von Schamann was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the seventh round of the 1979 NFL Draft after spending his college days as a Oklahoma Sooner.

The German-born kicker made 72 percent of his field goal attempts during his rookie campaign in 1979.

After a rough 1980, Schamann had his best season as a Dolphin. He made 77 percent of his field goals and 97 percent of the extra point attempts, but from there his numbers would trend downward until the end of his career.

However, he set a record for making 66 of 70 extra point attempts in 1984. That record stood for 23 years until it was broken by Stephen Gostkowski of the New England Patriots.