The Carolina Panthers unearthed a gem in kicker Ryan Fitzgerald. While he is missing way too many extra points right now, optimism remains about his long-term outlook if he can fix it.
After all, he is almost flawless in every other phase.
Adam Fromal, FanSided's kicking guru and the innovator of the Kicker Value Added metric, shot Fitzgerald up his rankings at the quarter point of 2026. He now sits No. 12 league-wide, a testament to his field goal accuracy and his dangerous kickoff, which exploits the new rules to perfection.
Ryan Fitzgerald won't be the Carolina Panthers' secret weapon for much longer
Fromal acknowledged that Fitzgerald's extra-point misses to the right are egregious for a player with his talent. But he is perfect with his extra-point attempts, and his daring kickoff approach seems to be having the desired effect for good measure.
"Ryan Fitzgerald needs to stop pushing his PATs out to the right because four misses in 15 tries is downright unacceptable. However, the sophomore has also made all 11 of his three-point conversions and has been the league's most effective kickoff weapon.
"He's employed a boom-or-bust approach that has led to three penalized kicks and five standard touchbacks, but he's also one of nine kickers with multiple touchbacks to the 20 and has ceded an average field position at the 26.03 — the NFL's best mark."
It's nice to see Fitzgerald getting some recognition.
And in all honesty, it's been a long time since any Carolina kicker got any sort of adulation.
Fromal is absolutely spot on with his assessment, too.
Ryan Fitzgerald still has work ahead to become Carolina Panthers' long-term kicker
The Panthers are willing to ride the waves with Fitzgerald's kickoffs, knowing they can make things extremely difficult for the opposition if he does it right. His field goals aren't a problem, but as the margins get finer down the stretch, any more wayward extra points would be problematic.
Fitzgerald convincingly won the starting job last year and played well. No one challenged him this time, which showed the team's belief in his capability.
It's not perfect just yet. But Fitzgerald's problems are easy to fix with the right coaching and commitment.
Finding a competent kicker was a thankless task for previous regimes. It was a proverbial carousel of flawed veterans who couldn't stick. Fitzgerald was a shift in course from general manager Dan Morgan, and he was right to rely on youth.
Nobody is getting too carried away. At the same time, Fitzgerald's surge up the Kicker Value Added rankings demonstrates growth.
He's gained a lot from his experiences so far, and the Florida State product should only improve if he maintains that consistency.
For an undrafted free-agent hopeful who wasn't given much chance of becoming a successful professional, Fitzgerald has already exceeded expectations.
And he's just getting started.
Add us as a preferred source on Google