2023 NFL Kickoff Return Yards Allowed Leaders

Total return yards gained against a specialist's kickoffs. It reflects his kick and his coverage team.

Lower is better, but volume matters. In 2023, Anders Carlson (950) led NFL kickoff specialists in kickoff return yards allowed, ahead of Jake Moody (655) and Tyler Bass (649). 52 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 2023 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

Rk	Player	Team	Ret yds	Kickoffs	Avg dist	TB%	Returns	Points
1	Anders Carlson	Green Bay Packers	950	85	63.8	44%	47	+2.5
2	Jake Moody	San Francisco 49ers	655	90	62.5	60%	34	−2.9
3	Tyler Bass	Buffalo Bills	649	94	63.2	56%	41	+4.5
4	Daniel Carlson	Las Vegas Raiders	637	77	64.4	62%	29	+2.4
5	Nick Folk	Tennessee Titans	621	60	64.2	53%	28	+9.1
6	Jack Fox	Detroit Lions	508	84	64.5	68%	27	+7.1
7	Jake Camarda	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	491	81	63.1	64%	29	+1.4
8	Jake Elliott	Philadelphia Eagles	491	90	64.8	81%	17	−6.1
9	Jason Myers	Seattle Seahawks	488	85	63.4	65%	29	+0.1
10	Chris Boswell	Pittsburgh Steelers	476	76	63.6	72%	21	−7.1
11	Eddy Pineiro	Carolina Panthers	434	54	64.3	67%	17	−0.7
12	Chad Ryland	New England Patriots	433	60	63.6	65%	21	+8.7
13	Dustin Hopkins	Cleveland Browns	431	76	63.5	66%	26	−3.4
14	Jason Sanders	Miami Dolphins	416	88	64.6	85%	13	−12.3
15	Justin Tucker	Baltimore Ravens	413	99	64.4	81%	19	−1.4
16	Greg Joseph	Minnesota Vikings	400	78	64.5	78%	16	+0.2
17	Ka'imi Fairbairn	Houston Texans	392	56	64.3	66%	19	+0.5
18	Matt Gay	Indianapolis Colts	391	92	64.1	78%	20	−4.2
19	Brandon McManus	Jacksonville Jaguars	356	84	64.3	77%	19	−4.2
20	Cairo Santos	Chicago Bears	350	74	65.0	81%	14	+4.8
21	Harrison Butker	Kansas City Chiefs	311	84	65.3	87%	11	−0.6
22	Bradley Pinion	Atlanta Falcons	261	79	64.5	84%	12	−2.2
23	Ethan Evans	Los Angeles Rams	229	82	64.5	89%	9	−4.0
24	Blake Grupe	New Orleans Saints	225	90	64.7	84%	14	+4.5
25	Evan McPherson	Cincinnati Bengals	214	80	64.3	79%	17	+3.3
26	Cameron Dicker	Los Angeles Chargers	213	80	64.4	85%	12	+1.0
27	Brandon Aubrey	Dallas Cowboys	198	109	64.5	91%	9	−2.8
28	Ty Zentner	Tennessee Titans	194	10	64.0	20%	8	−1.2
29	Riley Patterson	Detroit Lions	193	16	63.2	44%	9	+7.4
30	Randy Bullock	New York Giants	153	20	61.6	65%	6	+5.3
31	Wil Lutz	Denver Broncos	152	78	65.2	91%	7	+0.5
32	Joey Slye	Washington Commanders	139	69	64.9	93%	5	−1.4
33	Graham Gano	New York Giants	134	28	65.0	82%	5	−0.9
34	Matt Prater	Arizona Cardinals	133	74	64.6	89%	8	0.0
35	Matt Ammendola	Houston Texans	112	22	63.7	73%	6	+0.9
36	Greg Zuerlein	New York Jets	97	64	64.8	91%	6	+0.5
37	Mitch Wishnowsky	San Francisco 49ers	91	7	64.4	57%	3	−1.4
38	Mason Crosby	New York Giants	72	16	60.8	13%	14	+6.9
39	Corey Bojorquez	Cleveland Browns	57	5	58.2	0%	5	+0.3
40	Dare Ogunbowale	Houston Texans	54	6	55.2	50%	3	+0.2
41	Lucas Havrisik	Los Angeles Rams	51	8	65.5	88%	1	−1.6
42	Jordan Stout	Baltimore Ravens	46	4	54.5	0%	3	−1.9
43	Kamu Grugier-Hill	Carolina Panthers	44	3	47.3	0%	3	−1.1
44	Jake Bailey	Miami Dolphins	41	10	64.7	80%	2	+0.8
45	Thomas Morstead	New York Jets	26	5	62.8	40%	3	−0.1
46	Trenton Gill	Chicago Bears	21	13	61.1	85%	2	−1.8
47	Riley Dixon	Denver Broncos	20	1	67.0	0%	1	−0.5
48	Jamie Gillan	New York Giants	18	1	51.0	0%	1	−0.5
49	Brett Maher	Los Angeles Rams	16	1	46.0	0%	1	0.0
50	D'Anthony Bell	Cleveland Browns	9	1	42.0	0%	1	−0.5
51	Cameron Johnston	Houston Texans	5	1	67.0	0%	1	0.0
52	Ryan Wright	Minnesota Vikings	5	1	47.0	0%	1	−0.8

All 2023 NFL kickoff specialist rankings

Kickoff Return Yards Allowed in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016

More 2023 NFL kickoff specialist leaderboards

Other 2023 NFL rankings

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