2021 NFL Kickoff Touchbacks Leaders

Kickoffs that reached the end zone and were kept there, giving the receiving team the ball at its own 25, 30 or 35, depending on the league and the rule that season. A touchback avoids a return but gives up field position.

More is better under this season's rules: a touchback ends the play with no return. Read with touchback percentage. In 2021, Greg Zuerlein (80) led NFL kickoff specialists in kickoff touchbacks, ahead of Greg Joseph (76) and Matt Prater (73). 53 kickoff specialists qualify.

NFL rule from 2016 to 2023: a kickoff touchback started the receiving team at its 25 (from 2023 a fair catch inside the 25 did too), so a deep kick into the end zone was the safe, standard result. Kickoff Points Added accounts for the rule, so it is the fair way to compare kickoff specialists across leagues and seasons.

Final 2021 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

Rk	Player	Team	TB	Kickoffs	Avg dist	TB%	Returns	Points
1	Greg Zuerlein	Dallas Cowboys	80	99	64.4	81%	18	−7.2
2	Greg Joseph	Minnesota Vikings	76	93	64.4	82%	17	−0.6
3	Matt Prater	Arizona Cardinals	73	91	64.9	80%	18	+0.3
4	Bradley Pinion	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	71	89	64.2	80%	17	−8.3
5	Dustin Hopkins	Los Angeles Chargers	71	98	64.0	72%	27	+7.3
6	Matt Gay	Los Angeles Rams	65	99	62.3	66%	31	+0.4
7	Brandon McManus	Denver Broncos	62	76	65.1	82%	14	−17.3
8	Harrison Butker	Kansas City Chiefs	61	93	63.0	66%	32	−0.6
9	Jake Elliott	Philadelphia Eagles	61	94	64.4	65%	33	−5.4
10	Jason Sanders	Miami Dolphins	56	77	63.7	73%	20	+2.6
11	Tyler Bass	Buffalo Bills	56	98	62.5	57%	40	+12.1
12	Evan McPherson	Cincinnati Bengals	55	91	63.5	60%	35	+0.5
13	Daniel Carlson	Las Vegas Raiders	53	87	63.5	61%	33	−3.2
14	Randy Bullock	Tennessee Titans	50	89	63.8	56%	39	+8.8
15	Justin Tucker	Baltimore Ravens	47	87	61.8	54%	39	+0.3
16	Rigoberto Sanchez	Indianapolis Colts	47	93	64.0	51%	46	+13.1
17	Mason Crosby	Green Bay Packers	43	94	63.8	46%	50	−4.4
18	Jake Bailey	New England Patriots	41	93	62.6	44%	49	+6.1
19	Chris Boswell	Pittsburgh Steelers	40	86	63.1	47%	45	−2.5
20	Joey Slye	Washington Commanders	37	58	63.6	64%	21	−1.8
21	Zane Gonzalez	Carolina Panthers	35	55	64.9	64%	20	−6.7
22	Cairo Santos	Chicago Bears	34	69	64.0	49%	35	+3.0
23	Chase McLaughlin	Cleveland Browns	31	68	63.8	46%	37	+6.4
24	Jason Myers	Seattle Seahawks	31	81	62.2	38%	49	+13.0
25	Younghoe Koo	Atlanta Falcons	29	55	62.9	53%	25	+4.6
26	Matt Ammendola	New York Jets	27	43	63.0	63%	16	−0.7
27	Graham Gano	New York Giants	27	64	61.5	42%	36	+5.9
28	Mitch Wishnowsky	San Francisco 49ers	21	53	63.2	40%	32	−5.3
29	Braden Mann	New York Jets	20	22	64.8	91%	2	−0.7
30	Jack Fox	Detroit Lions	19	34	64.6	56%	15	+0.1
31	Aldrick Rosas	New Orleans Saints	18	22	64.6	82%	4	+0.6
32	Brett Maher	New Orleans Saints	18	35	63.7	51%	17	+1.6
33	Brian Johnson	New Orleans Saints	16	34	62.7	47%	18	+0.3
34	Ka'imi Fairbairn	Houston Texans	16	42	61.8	38%	25	+2.4
35	Tristan Vizcaino	Los Angeles Chargers	13	31	64.4	42%	18	+0.5
36	Ryan Santoso	Detroit Lions	12	15	64.3	80%	3	−0.4
37	Lirim Hajrullahu	Carolina Panthers	12	17	64.7	71%	5	−1.6
38	Logan Cooke	Jacksonville Jaguars	10	21	62.0	48%	10	−6.2
39	Robbie Gould	San Francisco 49ers	8	21	63.2	38%	13	+0.6
40	Josh Lambo	Jacksonville Jaguars	7	9	65.1	78%	2	+0.2
41	Elliott Fry	Kansas City Chiefs	6	11	62.7	55%	5	+0.6
42	Sterling Hofrichter	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	6	14	63.9	43%	8	+0.1
43	Cameron Nizialek	Atlanta Falcons	6	15	63.1	40%	9	−4.9
44	Chris Blewitt	Washington Commanders	5	5	65.0	100%	0	−0.2
45	Austin Seibert	Detroit Lions	5	20	63.1	25%	15	+4.5
46	Matthew Wright	Jacksonville Jaguars	5	30	62.1	17%	25	−11.3
47	Nick Folk	New England Patriots	4	10	61.1	40%	6	−0.8
48	Chris Naggar	Cleveland Browns	3	5	63.4	60%	2	+0.4
49	Dominik Eberle	Houston Texans	3	8	63.0	38%	5	−1.0
50	Blake Gillikin	New Orleans Saints	2	2	65.0	100%	0	−0.1
51	Michael Badgley	Indianapolis Colts	2	3	63.7	67%	1	+0.5
52	Cody Parkey	New Orleans Saints	1	3	65.0	33%	2	+0.2
53	Alex Kessman	New York Jets	1	4	61.5	25%	3	+1.3

All 2021 NFL kickoff specialist rankings

Kickoff Touchbacks in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016

More 2021 NFL kickoff specialist leaderboards

Other 2021 NFL rankings

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