Good news: Jaguars kicker Cam Little recently kicked the first 70-yard field goal in a football game at any level.
Bad news: It didn’t count.
So with Little making a kick of unprecedented length in a non-game game, he now hopes to do it in a game that will be added to the official record books.
“It does suck,” Little said of the preseason effort, via Michael DiRocco of ESPN.com. “That means I am just going to go have to out there and make it again.”
In Little’s mind, there’s a race to be the first kicker to make a 70-yard kick.
"[T]here is probably going to be a guy this season who will kick a 70-plus yarder, I would bet my money on it,” Little said.
New Jaguars coach Liam Coen is willing to bet some of his job security on Little making long kicks. Coen said that Little’s range will influence playcalling.
“I don’t know if we’re going to be going for 70-yarders in the first and second quarter of the game, but maybe the kick line to gain is maybe a little bit moved back for us in some ways,” Coen said. "[W]hether it’s end of half, end of game, critical moments [and] we need points, you feel like you’ve got a weapon to go and give yourselves a chance.”
And it won’t take much to get in position to give it a shot, especially after a kickoff that lands in the end zone. Starting from the 35, Jacksonville would need to gain only 13 yards (Saturday night’s kick was snapped from the Jaguars 48) to be in position to try a 70-yard field goal.
The current record is 66 yards, set by Justin Tucker in 2021. For decades, Tom Dempsey held the distinction, at 63 yards.
Here’s the full list of all field goals of 60 yards or longer.
