Most place kickers By a single team in a season

[Gary Najman]

I notice that the Jacksonville Jaguars will have their fifth placekicker in their next game. Their regular kicker Josh Lambo, played in their first two games before he got injured, then Brandon Wright, Aldrick Rosas (who also got injured), Stephen Hauschka, and in week 6 it will be Jon Brown. Has other team (excluding in the 1987 season, with the strike-replacement games), has had many kickers? The other teams in the top of my head I remember (with three kickers) are the 1978 and 1983 New England Patriots, with John Smith, Nick Lowery and David Posey in 1978, and Smith, Fred Steinfort and Joaquín Zendejas in 1983.

[Ronfitch]

The '71 Packers had three kickers: Walt Michaels, Tim Webster and Dave Conway. Michaels was a position player (DE) but kicked regularly over 12 of his 13 years in the league, scoring nearly 1,000 points.

The '68 Packers had four different players kick. Two were kickers (Mike Mercer and Errol Mann), plus G Jerry Kramer (pressed into duty in '68* but kicked regularly in '62 and '63) and FB Chuck Mercein (pressed into duty*).

On edit:

I looked through the '69 Packer yearbook last night and found the article that specifically addressed the kicking issues for the '68 Packers. Don Chandler's retirement "caught new coach Phil Bengsten by surprise." Chandler was in Green Bay for three seasons and in that time moved into the number 9 position on the teams' all-time scoring list and '67 was on of Chandler's "best years ever" missing "only" 8 of 31 FG attempts in 17 regular and post season games (my note: it is all about the era).

Without Chandler, Bengsten traded for a kicker (Wade Trayham from Atlanta) and brought in rookies, with only Errol Mann sticking around but as a member of the taxi squad. When the season began, Bengsten turned it over to G Jerry Kramer for the first five games, until he was injured. Then FB Chuck Mercein for one game, until he was injured. So, they activated Mann, who missed three FG attempts in the 28-17 win over the Cowboys in game seven and Mercein returned for game eight. For game nine, they had signed Mike Mercer, who finished the year as the kicker. The Packers finished 6-7-1.

[ChrisBabcock]

The 2019 Patriots used 4 kickers: Stephen Gostkowski, Mike Nugent, Kai Forbath & Nick Folk

[RichardBak]

The 1952 Lions used 4 kickers en route to winning the NFL title. Pat Harder took over kicking duties when Doak Walker was injured, and Bobby Layne filled in when Harder's watery knee acted up. Jim Hardy, Layne's back-up at QB, was the 4th kicker that season, and thereby hangs a tale.

When Green Bay visited Detroit for their annual Thanksgiving Day grudge match, the Lions, Rams, 49ers, and surprising Packers were all tied for first place. It was a grudge match, but the Lions won in a rout. The last TD came late in the game on a Hardy pass to Leon Hart. As the teams lined up for the extra point, Harder allowed Hardy to try the conversion. The fun-loving Hardy booted the ball through the posts. It was the only placekick Hardy ever attempted in his NFL career.

According to the next day's Free Press, the Packers "took exception to Harder's permitting Hardy to kick the final extra point. They felt it added insult to injury." On the ensuing kickoff, "the insult led to several fist fights, the major engagements involving Harder and Wash Serini, Hardy and Tony Canada, and Sonny Gandee and Steve Ruzick. Coaches, officials, and finally a couple of policemen restored order."

Of course, kickers were position players back then, so having several guys attempt PATs and FGs during the season was pretty common. That said, has there ever been a team as loaded with kickers as the '52 Lions? Harder had led the league in scoring 3 straight years (1947-49) while Walker led in 1950 and 1955 and Layne in 1956. And strong-legged Jim Martin was still only being used on kickoffs. Martin, the first man to boot two 50-yd FGs in a game (1960 vs the Colts), would go on to kick a league-best 24 FG as a 39-yr-old K for Baltimore in 1963. Remarkably, the '52 Lions also included rookie Pat Summerall, who was injured in the second game and missed the rest of the season. Summerall, an Arkansas end who had led all college kickers with 4 FGs his senior year (yeah, I know, too funny), was traded to the Cards the following season, in part because the roster was filled with reliable kickers.

Oh, and speaking of strong legs, Yale Lary joined the Lions that year.

[Citizen]

The 1988 Packers also had four: Zendejas, Dorsey, Dawson, and Burrow. Add Del Greco from the previous year and Jacke from the following year, and that's six kickers in three seasons.

[TodMaher]

Teams that used five kickers in a season who were strictly "specialists":

1987 Cleveland (one of the five apparently only kicked off)
2000 Washington
2017 Los Angeles Chargers
2019 Tennessee (one player only kicked off)

In the pre-specialist era four was the most number of kickers used by any team.

[RichardBak]

In the pre-specialist era four was the most number of kickers used by any team.

If you count kickers who just kicked off, then the '52 Lions used at least 5 kickers: Harder, Walker, Layne, Hardy, and Summerall. Summerall, drafted as a "kickoff specialist" who could consistently knock the ball into the EZ (pretty rare back then), kicked off in the first 2 games of the season before breaking his right arm in the second half against LA. In fact, he shattered his arm while covering the return after kicking off.

In all likelihood, the Lions used 6 kickers that season. Jim Martin was described in the local press as "grooming to take over the assignment" after Summerall's injury, though in the immediate aftermath Layne wound up with the job. It's pretty hard to find info on guys who just kicked off, but I'd bet Martin occasionally replaced Layne in that department as the season wore on. Layne had a pretty average leg and he disliked kicking, and he also was vulnerable to the usual roll block that return teams employed on the kicker, so Buddy Parker might have substituted with Martin once in a while. Martin definitely kicked off on occasion in 1951, and he later handled that chore (along with long-range FG tries) for many seasons, so I don't know why he wouldn't have been employed at some point in '52.

In any case, counting Jim Hardy's lark, the '52 Lions definitely used at least 5 kickers and possibly (probably) 6.

I'm thinking there are other teams in those non-specialist years who also may have used more than 4 kickers in a season. The problem is that these guys were used just to kick off, and not for XPs and FGs, so their efforts don't show up in any statistical category.

[TodMaher]

In the pre-specialist era four was the most number of kickers used by any team.

If you count kickers who just kicked off, then the '52 Lions used at least 5 kickers: Harder, Walker, Layne, Hardy, and Summerall. Summerall, drafted as a "kickoff specialist" who could consistently knock the ball into the EZ (pretty rare back then), kicked off in the first 2 games of the season before breaking his right arm in the second half against LA. In fact, he shattered his arm while covering the return after kicking off.

In all likelihood, the Lions used 6 kickers that season. Jim Martin was described in the local press as "grooming to take over the assignment" after Summerall's injury, though in the immediate aftermath Layne wound up with the job. It's pretty hard to find info on guys who just kicked off, but I'd bet Martin occasionally replaced Layne in that department as the season wore on. Layne had a pretty average leg and he disliked kicking, and he also was vulnerable to the usual roll block that return teams employed on the kicker, so Buddy Parker might have substituted with Martin once in a while. Martin definitely kicked off on occasion in 1951, and he later handled that chore (along with long-range FG tries) for many seasons, so I don't know why he wouldn't have been employed at some point in '52.

In any case, counting Jim Hardy's lark, the '52 Lions definitely used at least 5 kickers and possibly (probably) 6.

I'm thinking there are other teams in those non-specialist years who also may have used more than 4 kickers in a season. The problem is that these guys were used just to kick off, and not for XPs and FGs, so their efforts don't show up in any statistical category.

You see a lot of players back "then" kicking off that one would have a hard time thinking as kickers, such as Gene Upshaw for the Raiders in 1967 and 1968.

[RichardBak]

You see a lot of players back "then" kicking off that one would have a hard time thinking as kickers, such as Gene Upshaw for the Raiders in 1967 and 1968.

Agreed. I'm wondering if you're including them in your tally. Looking through my notes, I see that the 1951 Lions also used at least 5 kickers, with 3 of them (Leon Hart, Jim Martin, and Bob Smith) used exclusively to kick off. There actually may have been a couple more (Harder and Layne), as Buddy Parker was always fooling around with his special teams.

I see that the NFL now has a kicking category for kickoffs, including yards returned, % returned, and touchbacks. When did that start?

[BD Sullivan]

Teams that used five kickers in a season who were strictly "specialists":

1987 Cleveland (one of the five apparently only kicked off)

Of course, that was the Year of the Scab, so you had two different rosters during the year. Ironically, the Browns, at least until recently, have largely had kickers with long runs: Lou Groza, Don Cockroft, Matt Bahr, Matt Stover and Phil Dawson make up most of their first 65 years, with small intervals where a kicker was only in place for a year.