Rian David Lindell (born January 20, 1977) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

placekicker In gridiron football, the placekicker (PK), or simply kicker (K), is the player responsible for attempts at scoring Field goal (football), field goals and extra points. In most cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) who played for the Seattle Seahawks,

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Washington State Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

Early life

Lindell studied in Pacific Junior High School (now Pacific Middle School) in

Vancouver, Washington Vancouver ( ) is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington, located in Clark County, Washington, Clark County. Founded in 1825 and incorporated in 1857, Vancouver had a population of 190, ...

, and was coached by Mike Daltoso. He later attended Mountain View High School, where he played as a

tight end The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...

and

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

in football, receiving All-league honors on special teams and defense as a senior. He also lettered in

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

, playing as a

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

and receiving All-state honors as a

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...

in his senior season.

College career

Lindell walked on at Washington State University. He was named the starter as a sophomore, on a team that included

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

Ryan Leaf, finishing with a school record 58 extra points scored, while making 12 out of 17 field goals. He also played in the 1998 Rose Bowl at the end of his sophomore season, losing to a

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

team that included future NFL players Brian Griese, Tom Brady (who was Griese's backup for the game) and Charles Woodson. He became a three-year starter and finished fourth (206 points) on the school's career scoring list

Professional career

Dallas Cowboys

Lindell was signed as an undrafted free agent by the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

after the 2000 NFL draft. He lost the

job after competing with Tim Seder and was waived before the season started.

Seattle Seahawks

On September 26,

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, he was signed by the Seattle Seahawks as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

. He started for three seasons and made 74.4% (58 of 78) of his field-goal attempts.

Buffalo Bills

On March 24,

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, he was signed as a restricted free agent by the

to replace Mike Hollis, who was allowed to leave in free agency. The Seahawks decided not to match the offer and lost Lindell without receiving any compensation. He was generally regarded as having a stronger but slightly less accurate leg than Hollis. In the 2006 season, Lindell converted 23 out of 25 field goal attempts, at 92%, tied for the league. On November 26, 2006, Lindell kicked the game-winning field goal against the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...

to complete Buffalo's upset over Jacksonville. On November 11, 2007, Lindell kicked a game-winning field goal to allow Buffalo to win 13–10 over the Miami Dolphins. On Sunday, December 2, 2007, Lindell kicked a game-winning field goal against the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

. Lindell was 5/5 in field goal attempts on that day. When kicking the game-winning field goal, Lindell was "iced" twice by Washington head coach Joe Gibbs, which drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against Washington, making the field goal 15 yards shorter. In week 3 of the 2008 season, Lindell had a game-winning field goal on the final play of the game vs. the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

, which allowed Buffalo to move to 3–0. Later, in week 11 of the season, Lindell missed a 47-yard field goal with 38 seconds left. As a result, the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

ran the clock out to secure a 29–27 victory. On December 9, 2007, Rian Lindell set the record for the most consecutive field goals made in

history. He had played in all 64 games for the Bills since 2003 (until the middle of the 2011 season) and holds a Bills record with 83.04 field goal percentage. On November 29, 2009, Lindell successfully made a 56-yard field goal against rivals Miami Dolphins. This was not only Lindell's longest field goal of his career but also tied Houston Texans' kicker Kris Brown for longest successful field goal in the league for the 2009 season, until

Sebastian Janikowski Sebastian Paweł Janikowski (; born March 2, 1978) is a Polish former professional player of American football who was a placekicker for 18 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), primarily with the Oakland Raiders. He played college fo ...

made a 61-yarder in week 17. On November 7, 2010, Lindell had an extra point blocked against the Chicago Bears, ending his streak at 321 successful extra points, an NFL record for most consecutive extra points to start a career. On September 25, 2011, Lindell booted two field goals against the Patriots, including a 28-yard game winner to give the Bills their first win in 15 games vs. the Patriots. On November 6, 2011, Lindell injured his shoulder while trying to trip up New York Jets running back Joe McKnight. He missed the remainder of the season. On February 7, 2012, the Bills announced that Lindell had agreed to a four-year contract for $10 million. On August 19, 2013, he was released after being passed on the depth chart sixth-round draft choice Dustin Hopkins. He left as the most accurate field goal kicker (83.3%), second in franchise history in scoring (979) and broke team records by connecting on 18 straight field goals and 225 consecutive extra-point attempts.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

On August 20, 2013, Lindell signed as a

with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to replace Connor Barth, who had suffered a torn Achilles tendon injury. He made 23 out of 29 field goals with a long one of 54 yards. He wasn't re-signed after the season.

Career regular season statistics

''Career high/best bolded''

Personal life

Lindell is married to his wife Johna. He is a fan of baseball's St. Louis Cardinals. He was a part of the

Alpha Kappa Lambda Alpha Kappa Lambda (), commonly known as AKL or Alpha Kapp, is an American collegiate social Fraternities and sororities in North America, fraternity founded at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1914. Today, it operates 25 active chapters ...

fraternity in college. He is now a physical education teacher and a football coach at Eastlake High School in Sammamish, Washington.

Notes

References

External links

Washington State Cougars bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lindell, Rian 1977 births Living people Players of American football from Vancouver, Washington Players of American football from Portland, Oregon American football placekickers Washington State Cougars football players Dallas Cowboys players Seattle Seahawks players Buffalo Bills players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players