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The fair catch kick is a rule at the professional and high school levels of American football that allows a team that has just made a fair catch to attempt a free kick [A] from the spot of the catch. The kick must be either a place kick or a drop kick , and if it passes over the crossbar and between the goalposts of the opposing team's goal, a ...
The NFL only considers kickoffs, safety kicks or onside kicks to be free kicks and specifically states that a fair-catch kick "is not a free kick." There's also this from Rule 10, Section 2 ...
The team that was trapped in its own end zone, therefore conceding two points to the other team, kicks the ball from its own 20-yard line. This can be a place kick, drop-kick, or punt. In the NFL and high school, a free kick may be taken on the play immediately after a fair catch; see "fair catch kick" below.
Los Angeles Chargers kicker Cameron Dicker made the NFL's first fair-catch free kick field goal in nearly 50 years during his team's win over the Denver Broncos.
Chargers' Cameron Dicker made a rare fair-catch free-kick field goal from 57 yards out, the longest in NFL history. Only seven free kicks have been successful in the league.
NCAA rules on fair catches are similar to NFL and NFHS rules, except it does not have the fair catch kick option, and a fair catch from a kickoff that is caught between the receiving team's goal line and its 25-yard line is a touchback. The NCAA abolished the fair catch in 1950 but reinstated it in 1951 without the fair catch kick option.
Dicker and the Chargers took advantage of a seldom-used play called the fair-catch kick, which allows a team that has just made a fair catch to try a free kick for three points. The kick is attempted from the line of scrimmage, and the defenders all must stand 10 yards away.
For football obsessives like Harbaugh who relish oddities and unprecedented feats, Dicker's kick was delightful. The seldom-used rule allows a team that has just made a fair catch to try a free kick for three points. The kick is attempted from the line of scrimmage, and the defenders all must stand 10 yards away.