Cards: Action Packed Rookies 1991, SkyBox 1992
Acquired: TTM 1993, C/o Seattle Seahawks
One of only 2 kickers drafted in the 1991 NFL draft, John Kasay was taken in the 4th round by the Seattle Seahawks. Despite playing for some offensively anemic teams of the Seahawks back in the early 1990’s Kasay managed to lead the team in scoring for the first four seasons of his career, but at the eve of the 1995 free agency period he was left on the block, and the expansion Carolina Panthers made their move and snapped him up. He’d finish his Seahawk career 82/105 on field goals.
John would move on to the Panthers where as of 2011, he is the only member of the 1991 draft still playing and also the only member of the expansion Carolina Panthers still active. (In fact no members of the Jaguars or Texans expansion teams remain on their rosters.) Kasay’s career is all the more remarkable one, in an age where kickers have become highly disposable, and this is due to his longevity, affordability, and consistency- key for any kicker to possess. Among kickers, Kasay’s tenure with one team is only second to Jason Hanson (Detroit, 1992). In 1996, he set the NFL record with 37 field goals (a record since broken) and went to the Pro Bowl. In 2002 his season would be lost to injury after 2 games, but would recover by the following season. 2008 would see John lead the NFL in extra points with 46, and at the grand old age of 41 is the 3rd leading active scorer (8th overall) in the league with 1823 points.
G/Gp 285/285 Xpa 535 Xpm 524 Fga 529 Fgm 433 Pct 81.9%