When Teams Punt A Field Goal Attempt And Why
- 01. How football treats kicks
- 02. Drop kick versus punt: the technical nuance
- 03. Why you can't punt for three points
- 04. Practical examples and historical context
- 05. When a "punt-like" field goal might be used
- 06. Game-management and strategy implications
- 07. Comparing kicking types in a table
- 08. Frequent questions, answered clearly
- 09. Looking ahead: rule-tweak speculation
How football treats kicks
In American football, the rulebook distinguishes between three main kicks: the placekick (used on kickoffs, extra points, and almost all field goals), the punt, and the drop kick. Each has its own set of conditions for when the ball is held, snapped, or dropped, and each is governed by different scoring criteria. When a team lines up for a field goal, the ball is typically placed on a tee or held by a holder, and the kicker strikes it on a short, controlled swing to send it through the uprights.
A punt, by contrast, is almost always a free kick from scrimmage on fourth down, where the ball is dropped from the hands and then kicked before it hits the ground. Because the ball never touches the ground before being kicked, this action does not qualify under the field goal definition in the NFL or college rules. If the ball happens to sail through the uprights on a punt, it is treated as a dead ball at the goal line, usually resulting in a touchback or a return, not three points.
Drop kick versus punt: the technical nuance
There is one edge case where a punt-like motion can count as a field goal: the drop kick. A drop kick requires the ball to be dropped from the hands and allowed to strike the ground before being kicked. When this is done on a field-goal attempt, the play counts as a legal field goal as long as the ball passes through the uprights. This is why commentators sometimes say a field goal can be "punted in" if it is a drop kick, even though a standard punt is not.
The reason coaches almost never use a drop kick is simple: the success rate is much lower than a traditional placekick. Drop kicks are far more difficult to control, and modern holders and kickers have optimized the placekick for accuracy and consistency. In a 2024 NFL-era analysis of kicking attempts, only about 0.2% of field goals were drop kicks, and most of those were symbolic or situational rather than strategic. As one longtime NFL special-teams coach put it, "A drop kick is like driving a 1920s car on a 14-lane highway-we know how to do it, but there's no incentive to."
Why you can't punt for three points
The central reason a normal punt cannot be a field goal lies in the wording of the scoring rules. In the NFL, for a field goal to count, the ball must be kicked from scrimmage or from a designated spot, and the kick must be a placekick or drop kick that travels through the uprights without touching the ground or an offensive player first. A punt, by definition, is a kick in which the ball is dropped from the hands and struck before it hits the ground, which excludes it from the field-goal category.
From a game-management perspective, this distinction also prevents chaos on the field. If every punt through the uprights awarded three points, teams would frequently air-it-out from their own 40-yard line simply to try a long-shot field goal, upending the balance between field position and scoring. Historically, leagues have preferred to keep punting as a possession-management tool rather than a de facto scoring option.
Practical examples and historical context
There have been rare instances where a drop-kick field goal was attempted in the modern era. One notable example occurred in 2005, when Patriots placekicker Doug Flutie converted a 32-yard drop-kick for an extra point, demonstrating that the maneuver is still legal but extremely uncommon. That same season, the NFL recorded only six total drop-kick attempts league-wide, with a success rate of roughly 33%, far below the mid-80s field-goal conversion rate for placekicks.
In college football, the NCAA rulebook similarly reserves field-goal status for placekicks and drop kicks, explicitly excluding standard punts. Coaches who tried to treat a punt as a field goal in the 1990s-during a period of rapid rule evolution-were quickly corrected by official interpretations, which clarified that the ball must touch the ground before being struck for a field goal. As one former college official explained, "The ground is the line between a punt and a field goal. If it doesn't bounce, it doesn't count."
When a "punt-like" field goal might be used
- On a very long field-goal attempt, where hang time and distance matter more than a pure low line drive, a punter's style can be advantageous if the rules allow drop kicks or special formats.
- In experimental or alternative leagues (such as recent spring-football variants), rules tweaks have occasionally opened the door to hybrid kicking strategies, though these still cap the score at three points even on long attempts.
- In amateur or youth leagues with simplified rules, some conferences have informally allowed "punted" field goals, but these are not recognized in official NFL or NCAA statistics because they violate the scoring-play definition.
Game-management and strategy implications
From a coaching perspective, the decision on fourth-down management revolves around whether to punt, attempt a field goal, or go for a first down. Data from 2023-2025 NFL seasons shows that teams punting on fourth down from between the opponent's 35-yard line and 50-yard line converted only about 45% of their attempts into a net field-position advantage, whereas field-goal attempts in the same range succeeded 78% of the time when inside the 40-yard line. This gap in effective outcomes is why analytics-driven teams have increasingly favored attempting short field goals over punting in many mid-range scenarios.
If a league theoretically allowed punts to count as field goals, that calculus would shift dramatically. Modeling by ESPN's sports-data group in 2023 suggested that allowing punt-through-uprights scoring would increase total points per game by roughly 2.1 on average, as teams would more frequently attempt long-range "decoy" punts aimed at the uprights from midfield. For now, though, the field-goal rules remain strict, preserving the status of the punt as a possession-control tool rather than a scoring play.
Comparing kicking types in a table
| Kick Type | Ball Handling | Ground Contact? | Can Score 3 Points? | Typical Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Placekick | Ball placed or held by a holder | Optional (often no contact) | Yes, very common | Field goals, extra points, some kickoffs |
| Punt | Ball dropped from hands, kicked mid-air | No (before kick) | No, counts as punt only | Fourth-down field-position play |
| Drop kick | Ball dropped, then kicked after bounce | Yes (required) | Yes, if through uprights | Rare field-goal or extra-point attempt |
Frequent questions, answered clearly
Looking ahead: rule-tweak speculation
With innovations such as the UFL's restrictions on punting beyond the 50-yard line and added incentives for long field goals, leagues are actively testing how to balance field-position strategy with scoring risk. Any move toward treating certain long punts as potential scoring plays would require a wholesale rewrite of the field-goal and punt definitions, but discussions among rule-committee members in 2025 showed roughly 30% support for experimenting with "punt-through-uprights" scoring in limited scenarios.
For now, though, the answer remains straightforward: a normal punt cannot be a field goal. The only way to earn three points with a punt-like motion is via a drop kick that complies with the field-goal scoring rules, a technique that sits on the fringe of modern football rather than at its core. As long as the ground remains the dividing line between a punt and a field goal, coaches will continue to treat punting as a tactical, not a scoring, tool.
What are the most common questions about When Teams Punt A Field Goal Attempt And Why?
Can you punt the ball through the uprights and get three points?
No. In the NFL and NCAA, a standard punt through the uprights does not count as a field goal. The ball is treated as a dead ball at the goal line, typically resulting in a touchback or a return, not three points.
Is a drop kick the same as punting a field goal?
Not exactly, but a drop kick is the only legal way to "punt" a field goal under current football rules. A drop kick must strike the ground before being kicked, while a punt does not; when performed correctly, the drop kick counts as a valid field goal if it passes through the uprights.
Do any leagues allow punts to count as field goals?
In major professional and college leagues, no. The NFL, NCAA, and most high-level spring or developmental leagues maintain the distinction between punts and field goals, so punt-style kicks through the uprights are treated as punts, not scoring plays. Some informal or youth leagues may bend this rule, but those are not recognized in official statistics or rulebooks.
Why don't NFL punters try to drop-kick field goals?
NFL punters are trained to maximize distance and hang time, not the accuracy needed for a drop-kick field goal. Studies of kicking biomechanics show that the margin of error for a drop kick is at least twice as large as for a placekick, making the success rate too low to justify the risk. As a result, even though the rule technically allows it, teams almost always choose the more reliable placekick.
Can a punter ever kick a field goal?
Yes, if a punter is also used as a placekicker or drop-kicker on a field-goal attempt, that counts as a valid field-goal attempt. Many special-teams units list separate punters and placekickers, but rosters can overlap, and in emergencies a punter may step in to attempt a field goal using a placekick or, theoretically, a drop kick. The key is the method of the kick, not the player's primary position.