The Longest Field Goal in NFL History: Charting the Record From Tom Dempsey to Cam Little

The Longest Field Goal in NFL History: Cam Little, the 60-Yard Club, and a Record That Finally Started Moving

For 43 years, the longest field goal in NFL history was a number most fans could recite in their sleep. Then the record started moving, slowly at first and then all at once. It now belongs to a 22-year-old in his second NFL season, and he is not done.

The short answer, current as of the 2025 season and the early days of 2026: the longest field goal in NFL history is 68 yards, kicked by Jacksonville Jaguars rookie-turned-sophomore Cam Little against the Las Vegas Raiders on November 2, 2025. The longer answer is a story about leg strength, thin mountain air, climate-controlled domes, a rule change almost nobody remembers, and a man who kicked a 63-yarder in 1970 with half a foot.

The longest field goal in NFL history

Cam Little drilled a 68-yard field goal as the first half expired in Las Vegas, beating Justin Tucker's previous record by two yards. Jacksonville trailed 6-0 at the time, and Little's record-breaking kick cut the deficit to 6-3 heading into the locker room. The Jaguars went on to win the game 30-29 in overtime.

Two months later, on January 4, 2026, Little did it again, splitting the uprights from 67 yards against the Tennessee Titans in the regular-season finale. That one carried its own footnote: because it came outdoors rather than inside a dome, it stands as the longest outdoor field goal in league history. The two longest made field goals in NFL history now belong to the same 22-year-old.

Here is the part that makes record-keepers smile and traditionalists wince. Little had already cleared 70 yards. In a preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on August 9, 2025, he made a 70-yarder that does not count toward the official record, because the NFL recognizes only regular-season and playoff field goals in its record book. Officially, 68 is the number. Unofficially, the ceiling is creeping toward something that used to sound impossible.

How a 68-yard field goal actually happens

A field goal's distance is measured from the spot of the kick to the goalposts, not from the line of scrimmage. The holder sets up roughly seven to eight yards behind the line, and the goalposts sit ten yards deep in the end zone at the back line. Add it up and a 68-yard field goal means the line of scrimmage was sitting near the kicking team's own 49 or 50, the ball spotted close to midfield. The kicker then has to launch a leather ball more than two-thirds the length of the field, high enough to clear a defensive line and pure enough to stay between two posts 18 feet, 6 inches apart, from more than 200 feet away.

Distance like that is part power and part physics. The ball decelerates the entire way, so the margin for a wobble or a gust shrinks with every yard. This is why the record sat still for so long and why it now belongs to a small fraternity of kickers with unusual leg speed, and why the venue matters as much as the man.

The record book by distance: the 63-yard club and up

The cleanest way to read the leaderboard is by distance. Only a short list of kickers has ever made a field goal of 63 yards or longer in a regular-season NFL game, and the names at the top have mostly arrived in the last few years.

68 and 67 yards: Cam Little owns the summit

• 68 yards - Cam Little, Jacksonville Jaguars, vs. Las Vegas Raiders, November 2, 2025
• 67 yards - Cam Little, Jacksonville Jaguars, vs. Tennessee Titans, January 4, 2026

Little is the only kicker to clear 67 yards in a game that counts, and he has done it twice.

66 yards: Justin Tucker and the crossbar

• 66 yards - Justin Tucker, Baltimore Ravens, vs. Detroit Lions, September 26, 2021

Tucker's kick is the most famous of the bunch, partly because of how it went in. Facing fourth-and-19 with the Ravens' win probability under one-tenth of a percent, Baltimore converted on a 36-yard strike from Lamar Jackson to Sammy Watkins, setting up at the Detroit 48. Tucker's attempt as time expired smacked the crossbar, jumped straight up, and dropped through for a 19-17 win. His record stood for a little over four years, which by modern standards is an eternity.

65 and 64 yards: Aubrey, McLaughlin, and Prater

• 65 yards - Brandon Aubrey, Dallas Cowboys, vs. Baltimore Ravens, September 22, 2024
• 65 yards - Chase McLaughlin, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, vs. Philadelphia Eagles, September 28, 2025
• 64 yards - Matt Prater, Denver Broncos, vs. Tennessee Titans, December 8, 2013
• 64 yards - Brandon Aubrey, Dallas Cowboys, vs. New York Giants, September 14, 2025

Prater's 64-yarder is the elder statesman of this group and held the outright record on its own for eight years.

The 63-yard club

Sixty-three yards used to be the magic number, the distance that defined the ceiling for two generations. The list of kickers who have reached it keeps growing:

• 63 yards - Tom Dempsey, New Orleans Saints, vs. Detroit Lions, November 8, 1970
• 63 yards - Jason Elam, Denver Broncos, vs. Jacksonville Jaguars, October 25, 1998
• 63 yards - Sebastian Janikowski, Oakland Raiders, vs. Denver Broncos, September 12, 2011
• 63 yards - David Akers, San Francisco 49ers, vs. Green Bay Packers, September 9, 2012
• 63 yards - Graham Gano, Carolina Panthers, vs. New York Giants, October 7, 2018
• 63 yards - Brett Maher, Dallas Cowboys, vs. Philadelphia Eagles, October 20, 2019
• 63 yards - Joey Slye, New England Patriots, vs. San Francisco 49ers, September 29, 2024
• 63 yards - Evan McPherson, Cincinnati Bengals, vs. New England Patriots, November 23, 2025
• 63 yards - Brandon Aubrey, Dallas Cowboys, vs. Detroit Lions, December 4, 2025

What once required a half-century to break now happens several times a season. That trend is the real story behind the record.

The record by era: a 70-year climb

Trace the mark backward and the modern boom looks even stranger.

Bert Rechichar to Tom Dempsey

For nearly two decades, the longest field goal in NFL history was 56 yards, set by Bert Rechichar of the Baltimore Colts in 1953. Then came Tom Dempsey.

On November 8, 1970, Dempsey lined up for a 63-yard attempt on the final play against the Lions, with the Saints trailing. He made it, winning the game 19-17 and shattering the existing record by seven yards in a single swing. Dempsey was born without toes on his right foot and without fingers on his right hand, and he kicked with a modified flat-front shoe, a fact that turned an already improbable kick into one of the sport's enduring legends.

The goalpost rule almost nobody mentions

Here is a detail that gets left out of most leaderboards. When Dempsey set his record in 1970, the goalposts stood on the goal line, at the front of the end zone. In 1974, the NFL moved them to the back line, ten yards deeper, to make field goals harder and encourage touchdowns. By the early 1970s, field goals had ballooned to nearly a quarter of all scoring, and attempts dropped sharply after the change, from more than 860 in one season to around 553 the next.

The move added ten yards to the effective difficulty of every attempt from a given spot on the field. Every modern long-distance record, from Prater to Tucker to Little, was set under those tougher conditions. Dempsey's was not, which is one reason his 1970 kick remained untouchable for so long.

Dempsey's 43-year reign

Jason Elam tied the mark at 63 in 1998, also at altitude in Denver, but nobody passed it. The record finally fell on December 8, 2013, when Matt Prater connected from 64 yards at the end of the first half against the Titans. The setting helped: Denver's Mile High stadium sits at 5,280 feet, where thinner air offers a few extra yards of carry. The temperature that day hovered around 18 degrees, proving that cold air and a strong leg are not mutually exclusive. Prater's record stood for eight years until Tucker's crossbar kick in 2021, and Tucker's lasted barely four before Little arrived.

The record by venue: why domes and altitude matter

Where a long field goal is attempted matters nearly as much as who is attempting it.

Altitude is the oldest edge. Three of the longest kicks in the 63-and-up range were made in Denver, where the air is thinner and the ball travels farther: Elam's 63, Janikowski's 63, and Prater's record 64. Kickers have understood the Mile High advantage for decades.

Domes are the newer edge. With no wind and a stable temperature, a climate-controlled stadium removes the two variables most likely to knock a long kick off line. Tucker's 66-yarder came indoors at Detroit's Ford Field, and Little's record 68 came inside Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Little's 67-yarder against Tennessee earned its "longest outdoor" distinction precisely because the elements were back in play.

The pattern is not absolute. Plenty of long kicks have been made outdoors in ordinary conditions, and a strong tailwind outdoors can rival a dome's calm. But when a kicker is hunting the absolute edge of his range, a windless roof or a mountain altitude shaves off exactly the kind of margin that decides whether a 68-yarder clears or dies at the 5-yard line.

The record by game situation: halftime heaves and walk-off winners

Long field goals do not happen at random moments. They cluster in two specific situations, and the record book reflects it.

The first is the end of a half. With the clock about to hit zero and no real downside to a miss beyond a possession that was ending anyway, coaches turn their kickers loose. Cam Little's 68-yarder came as the first half expired against the Raiders, and Matt Prater's record 64 came at the same moment against the Titans in 2013. The end-of-half free shot is where many of the longest attempts live, because the alternative is simply letting the clock run out.

The second is the walk-off. Tom Dempsey's 63-yarder in 1970 and Justin Tucker's 66 in 2021 were both final-play game-winners, the kind of kick that turns a specialist into a household name overnight. These carry the most drama and the highest stakes, since a season-defining swing comes down to a single boot from a distance most teams would never attempt under normal conditions.

The pattern is useful for anyone trying to guess when the next record will fall. It will almost certainly come in one of these two windows, most likely as a half expires, because that is when a coach has the least to lose by letting his strongest leg swing for the fences.

The record by kicker: who these NFL players are

Cam Little

Little reached the NFL the way few record holders do, as a sixth-round pick out of the University of Arkansas in 2024. By his second season he held the two longest field goals in league history and had cleared 70 in the preseason. At 22, he has a longer runway than any record holder before him, which is an uncomfortable thought for anyone hoping the mark settles down.

Justin Tucker

Before Little, Tucker was the standard, regarded for much of the 2010s as among the most accurate kickers the league had seen. His 66-yarder against Detroit is the signature long kick of its era. The Ravens once posted video of Tucker drilling a 75-yarder in pregame warmups, a reminder that warmup feats and game records live in separate ledgers. Tucker's career with Baltimore ended in May 2025, when the Ravens released him after 13 seasons, and the NFL later suspended him following an investigation into allegations of inappropriate conduct during massage sessions. His 66-yard record, set in 2021, remains in the books as the bridge between Prater and Little.

Brandon Aubrey

Aubrey is the most unlikely name on the leaderboard. He was a standout soccer player at Notre Dame, a 2017 MLS SuperDraft pick by Toronto FC, and briefly a software engineer before he ever kicked a football for pay. He restarted his athletic career with the Birmingham Stallions of the revived USFL in 2022, earned all-league honors, and signed with the Cowboys. He has since made more field goals from 60 yards or longer than any kicker in league history, including a 65-yarder against the Ravens in 2024 that stands as the longest in Cowboys history. In the preseason that year, he unofficially matched the record with a 66-yarder against the Raiders.

Matt Prater and Sebastian Janikowski

Prater and Janikowski represent the previous generation of big legs. Janikowski, long one of the most powerful legs in the league, made his 63-yarder in Denver in 2011. Prater turned his altitude-aided 64 into eight years as the record holder and kept kicking into his late 30s, a long career for a man defined by one enormous swing.

Official versus unofficial: preseason, warmups, and the asterisk kicks

Records come with fine print. The NFL counts regular-season and playoff field goals toward its official marks and excludes preseason attempts. That distinction is why Little's 70-yard preseason make does not sit atop the leaderboard despite being the longest field goal anyone has hit in an organized professional game.

Warmups are even further outside the lines. Tucker's reported 75-yarder before a game and the casual 70-plus-yard bombs kickers launch in pregame routines are real, captured on video, and entirely unofficial. The conditions are relaxed, there is no rush, and no defense is bearing down. They tell you something about a leg's raw ceiling, but they tell you nothing about the record book.

The takeaway for anyone reading a viral clip: check whether the kick came in a game that counts. The gap between "longest ever recorded" and "longest in NFL history" is exactly the gap between a preseason highlight and an official entry.

Beyond the NFL: college football and the longest field goal ever kicked

The NFL does not own the all-time distance record. That belongs to a college game, and it has for almost half a century.

On October 16, 1976, Swedish-born kicker Ove Johansson made a 69-yard field goal for Abilene Christian against East Texas State, aided by a 12-mile-per-hour tailwind. Officials reportedly said it would have been good from 75. The kick stood as the longest in football history at any level for nearly 50 years, until Little's 70-yard preseason make finally edged past it in 2025. Johansson, who later became the oldest player ever selected in an NFL draft, died in 2023.

The major-college picture is messier, and it comes with an asterisk. The longest field goal in NCAA FBS history is 67 yards, a mark shared by Russell Erxleben of Texas, Steve Little of Arkansas, and Joe Williams of Wichita State, all made in 1977 and 1978 off a kicking tee, which college football allowed until 1989. Once the tee disappeared, the numbers came back down. Maddux Trujillo's 64-yarder for Temple in 2024 was the longest by a Division I kicker in more than 15 years.

For a quick reference across the levels:

• Longest in any game (unofficial pro): 70 yards - Cam Little, preseason, 2025
• Longest in college football history (all divisions): 69 yards - Ove Johansson, 1976
• Longest in NFL history (official): 68 yards - Cam Little, 2025
• Longest in NCAA FBS history: 67 yards - Erxleben, Little, and Williams (1977-78, off a tee)

The risk on the other side of a record kick

A 68-yard attempt is not a free play in every situation. A missed field goal hands the opposing team the ball at the spot of the kick rather than the line of scrimmage, which on a long try means giving them excellent field position. For most of NFL history, that math kept coaches conservative. A 60-yard attempt that fell short was close to a gift, so teams punted to pin the opponent deep or threw a desperation pass into the end zone instead.

What changed is the accuracy. As kickers became more reliable from distance, the expected value of the attempt climbed and the downside of a miss came to look more acceptable, especially at the end of a half when the opponent cannot do anything with the field position before the clock runs out. The records are a byproduct of that shift in thinking as much as a byproduct of stronger legs.

Why field goals keep getting longer

A record that did not move for 43 years has now been broken three times in 12. Several forces are pushing the line outward at once.

Kicking became a specialty. The soccer-style approach that swept the league in the 1960s and 1970s produced kickers who train the leg year-round, often through dedicated academies, rather than doubling as position players the way Rechichar did. The talent pool is deeper and the technique is more polished than at any point in the sport's history.

Coaches grew bolder. Analytics and improved accuracy have made coaches far more willing to send the unit out from 60-plus, especially at the end of a half when the alternative is a desperation heave. Twenty years ago, a 60-yard attempt was a gamble. Now it is a calculated play, and opportunity creates records.

The environment helps. More indoor stadiums mean more windless attempts, and kickers who chase distance know which venues and which altitudes give them their best shot.

The operation got faster. Better long snappers and holders mean cleaner, quicker setups, which buys the kicker the split second he needs to swing all the way through a ball from 68 yards. Put a deeper talent pool, bolder coaches, friendlier venues, and crisper operations together, and the surprise is not that the record is falling. The surprise is that it took this long to start.

Frequently asked questions

What is the longest field goal in NFL history?

The longest field goal in NFL history is 68 yards, made by Cam Little of the Jacksonville Jaguars against the Las Vegas Raiders on November 2, 2025. Little also holds the second-longest at 67 yards, set against the Tennessee Titans on January 4, 2026.

Who held the record before Cam Little?

Justin Tucker of the Baltimore Ravens held it with a 66-yard field goal against the Detroit Lions on September 26, 2021. Before Tucker, Matt Prater held it at 64 yards from 2013, and before Prater, Tom Dempsey's 63-yarder from 1970 stood for 43 years.

What is the longest field goal ever kicked, including preseason and college?

Cam Little made a 70-yard field goal in an NFL preseason game in August 2025, the longest in any organized professional game, though it does not count toward the official NFL record. In college, Ove Johansson kicked a 69-yarder for Abilene Christian in 1976, which stood as the longest at any level for nearly 50 years.

Why don't preseason field goals count toward the record?

The NFL only recognizes field goals made in regular-season and playoff games in its official record book. Preseason kicks, like Little's 70-yarder, are excluded, which is why the official record remains 68 yards.

What was Tom Dempsey's field goal, and why is it so famous?

Tom Dempsey made a 63-yard field goal on the final play to beat the Lions 19-17 on November 8, 1970. He was born without toes on his right foot and without fingers on his right hand, and he kicked with a modified flat-front shoe. His record held for 43 years, the longest reign of any NFL field goal record.

Does altitude or playing indoors really help a long field goal?

Yes. Thinner air at high altitude, such as Denver's 5,280 feet, lets the ball carry farther, and three of the longest kicks of 63-plus yards were made there. Indoor stadiums remove wind and temperature swings, which is why several record kicks, including Tucker's 66 and Little's 68, came in domes.

How is a field goal's distance measured?

It is measured from the spot where the ball is held to the goalposts, not from the line of scrimmage. Because the holder sets up about seven to eight yards behind the line and the posts sit ten yards into the end zone, a 68-yard field goal is snapped from near midfield.

Who has made the most field goals from 60 yards or longer?

Brandon Aubrey of the Dallas Cowboys has made more field goals from 60 yards or longer than any kicker in NFL history, including the longest in Cowboys history, a 65-yarder against the Ravens in 2024.

What is the longest field goal in college football?

Ove Johansson's 69-yarder for Abilene Christian in 1976 is the longest in college football history across all divisions. The NCAA FBS record is 67 yards, shared by Russell Erxleben, Steve Little, and Joe Williams in 1977 and 1978, all made off a kicking tee that the college game allowed until 1989.

What is the farthest a field goal could theoretically be kicked?

The practical ceiling is set by where the ball can be snapped. Because the hold sits about seven to eight yards behind the line of scrimmage and the goalposts are ten yards into the end zone, a kick from a team's own 35-yard line would be roughly an 82-yarder. The geometry is the only hard limit; everything past that is leg strength, and no one has come close to the maximum. Cam Little's 70-yard preseason make is the longest anyone has managed in a game of any kind.

Has a field goal longer than 70 yards ever been made in any game?

Not in professional or major-college competition. The longest in any organized game is Cam Little's 70-yard preseason kick in 2025. Ove Johansson's 69-yarder in a 1976 college game stood as the all-level best for nearly half a century before that.

Has anyone ever made a 70-yard field goal in a regular-season game?

Not yet. The longest in a regular-season game is Little's 68-yarder. His 70-yard make came in the preseason, which does not count officially. Given how quickly the record has moved, a 70-yarder that counts may only be a matter of time.

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This story was originally published July 6, 2026 at 7:28 AM.