Samuel James Ficken (born December 14, 1992), nicknamed "Kickin' Ficken", is an American 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 ...

. 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 ...

for the

Penn State Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Penn State Lady Lions basketball, Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot ...

. He was signed as an undrafted free agent by 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 ...

in 2015, and has also been a member of the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. They play the ...

and

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

Early life

Ficken, a former

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player, was born in

Valparaiso, Indiana Valparaiso ( ), colloquially Valpo, is a city in and the county seat of Porter County, Indiana, United States. The population was 34,151 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. History The site of present-day Valparaiso ...

, and attended Valparaiso High School, where he was named first-team

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Class 5A all-state kicker. He also was a member of the all-area team. Ficken made 13

field goals A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. Consequently, a ...

during his senior year, including a school-record 52-yard kick. He also had 45

touchback In American football, a touchback is a ruling that is made and signaled by an official when the ball becomes dead on or behind a team's own goal line (i.e., in their end zone) and the opposing team gave the ball the momentum, or impetus, to travel ...

s on kickoffs.

College career

Ficken saw little action in 2011 behind veteran starting kicker, Anthony Fera. He hit an extra point after

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

in the opener against Indiana State, as well as kicking off once. He missed his first collegiate field goal attempt in a game against Temple, but rebounded with a completed field goal against Eastern Michigan. Besides two more kickoffs, Ficken did not play for the remainder of the year. Ficken became the starting kicker in 2012. Ficken started the year off poorly, missing 7 of his first 11 field goals (including one from the one yard line in a game against Illinois, as well as missing 4 out of 5 in a one-point loss to Virginia). However, after being mentored by starting

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

placekicker Robbie Gould, he finished the year by hitting ten straight successful field goals, putting him 14 for 21 on the year. Ficken also completed 39 of 41 extra-point attempts (one was blocked, the other one was a miss). He was named the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

Special Teams Player of the Week on November 26, 2012, after a 3 for 3 game against the

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the College athletics in the United States, athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I ...

, one of which was the game-winning kick in overtime. Ficken made 15 consecutive field goals from October 27, 2012, to September 14, 2013, breaking the Penn State record for consecutive field goals made. To start the 2014 season, Ficken kicked a last-second, game-winning field goal in the Croke Park Classic. During the Pinstripe Bowl against

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

, Ficken tied the game with a 44-yard field goal and kicked the game-winning point after touchdown in overtime.

Professional career

After going undrafted during the

2015 NFL draft The 2015 NFL draft was the 80th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football, football players. It took place in Chicago at the Auditorium Theatre and in Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park ...

, Ficken attended the

minicamp A mini-camp, also spelled minicamp, is a short camp held by National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL) teams usually in spring of each year. The camp usually only lasts 3 days, but the length varies by a day or two depending ...

in May 2015, but was not signed.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Ficken was signed by the

on July 25, 2016. On August 29, he was waived by the Jaguars.

Kansas City Chiefs

On August 8, 2017, Ficken signed with the Chiefs after an injury to Cairo Santos. He was waived on September 2.

Los Angeles Rams

On December 20, 2017, Ficken was signed by the

to replace injured

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (since 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's All-star, star players. The format has changed ...

kicker Greg Zuerlein. On April 16, 2018, Ficken signed his exclusive rights tender, staying with the Rams. He was waived on August 31. Ficken was re-signed on September 17 following another injury to Greg Zuerlein. On September 23, Ficken made five

extra point Extra, Xtra, or The Extra may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * The Extra (1962 film), ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film * The Extra (2005 film), ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film Literature * Extra (newspaper), ...

s in a 35–23 win over the

Los Angeles Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC W ...

. Ficken was released by the Rams on October 2, after just two games, in which he missed two of his three field goal attempts.

Seattle Seahawks

On January 11, 2019, Ficken signed a reserve/future contract with the

. He was waived by the Seahawks on April 13.

Green Bay Packers

On April 15, 2019, Ficken was claimed off waivers by the

. On August 31, Ficken was waived by the Packers.

New York Jets

Ficken was signed by the

on September 10, 2019. Ficken re-signed with the Jets on April 23, 2020. He was placed on

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in ...

on November 24, with a groin injury. On December 19, Ficken was activated off of injured reserve. On January 2, 2021, Ficken was waived by the Jets in favor of Chase McLaughlin for the final game of the season. Ficken had missed a field goal and an extra point against 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 ...

in his last game with the Jets. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Jets on January 4. Ficken was waived on July 30.

Tennessee Titans

On August 1, 2021, Ficken was claimed off waivers by the

. He was placed on injured reserve on September 11.

Detroit Lions

On October 11, 2022, Ficken signed with the

practice squad In gridiron football, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. They serve as extra players during the team's practices, often as part of the scou ...

of the

References

External links

Penn State Nittany Lions bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ficken, Sam 1992 births Living people American football placekickers Detroit Lions players Green Bay Packers players Jacksonville Jaguars players Kansas City Chiefs players Los Angeles Rams players New York Jets players Penn State Nittany Lions football players Sportspeople from Valparaiso, Indiana Players of American football from Indiana Seattle Seahawks players Sportspeople from the Chicago metropolitan area Tennessee Titans players