Overview
- Under a 2025 rule, teams received 60 Wilson K-balls for the season, can break them in during the week, must submit three for pregame inspection, and each marked ball is retired after three games.
- Through seven weeks, kickers have made 35 field goals from 55 yards or longer and six from 60-plus, even as the overall success rate (84.7%) trails last season’s full-year average (85.6%).
- Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey, the NFL leader with six 60-yard makes, visits Denver on Sunday, where altitude could put a 70-yard attempt within coaching range according to multiple assessments.
- Eagles coordinator Vic Fangio says the new balls have “drastically changed” field goals, while coaches and kickers including Nick Sorensen and Eddy Pineiro note both improved talent and added distance from softer, familiar balls.
- Kickers and analysts cite better field position from the new kickoff format and greater coach willingness to try extreme distances, with blocked field goals already up to 12 through seven weeks compared with 18 all of last year.