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The original was posted on /r/nfl by /u/BiggestForts on 2024-07-04 08:09:36+00:00.

The only ones I know in NFL history are John Kasay, Morten Andersen, and Sebastian Janikowski. And even going to the punters, which I would argue is slightly more common than kickers, the goalposts don’t move much.

In association football, there was/is a massive slew of left-footed players. Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona are the i.e. examples of this. Younger and more currently streamlined examples are Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden, Lamine Yamal, Martin Ødegaard, Erling Haaland, Mohamed Salah, and Alphonso Davies.

Even goalkeepers, who are less involved in direct play, have a decent amount of left-footed players. In fact, I would say their roles with their feet mirror American football kickers the most. Thibaut Courtois, Jordan Pickford, Ederson, Yassine Bounou, and for a more close to home example, LAFC’s Hugo Lloris. Even historically, the number 1s never disregarded left feet. Iker Casillas, Fabien Barthez, Dida, these three were some of the best GKs in the world during their prime. And keep in mind, all of these guys, save Lloris and Dida, have been praised for their ball distribution, whether that be helping build up play, kicking a long ball, or making a throw to the extent that they could probably double as a QB.

In the NFL’s defense, even in association football, left-footed players are less common than righties. There are also hundreds of world class football clubs, each with like 23 players in their ranks, and some have a youth system where they could develop a lefty, whereas the NFL has 32 teams and their only concerns with kicking are with two guys.

But think of this like the lefty QB question. If 1 in 10 people are left-handed, how come the NFL only has 1 in 32, maybe even more if we consider backups? And even then, Tua is a natural righty. While this question has some explanation like “In the US, lefty athletes get told to pitch instead,” kicking doesn’t have an explanation along the same lines, or so I think.