Mike Florio ,
Facebook
Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio has peeled back the curtain on the new K ball procedures for 2025, attributing the uptick in long field goals to the new access teams have to the kicking balls before each game — and comparing the situation to the sudden increase in home runs in the 1990s.
Thanks to Fangio, Eagles special-teams coordinator Michael Clay faced a flurry of K ball questions when he subsequently met with the media.
“ Yeah, the ball is traveling,” Clay said, “it’s still warm out. Shoot, it was 102 degrees feel on Sunday. [Buccaneers kicker] Chase McLaughlin is a really good kicker. He was able to connect on that end-of-half situation and it’s just the trend of the league right now.”
McLaughlin made field goals of 65 and 58 yards, fueling Fangio’s belief that an asterisk needs to be applied to the ongoing rash of long-range kicks.
So what’s the difference this year? Clay naturally tried to downplay things, a bit.
“We just get to work on it a little bit longer than we used to,” Clay said. “We used to only have an hour, now we get the whole week to fill it in, and the kickers get to pick what ball they feel pretty good about. You only get, I think, six balls. If you lose one of them, and one gets scuffed up and the NFL deems it’s not playable, then it’s out. You’re down to five. So, you just have got to make sure those balls are primed and ready to go come Sunday.”
The official 2025 rulebook contains only one reference to the kicking balls. From Rule 2, Section 2: “Each team will make 12 primary, 12 backup, and three specially marked kicking balls available for testing by the Referee no later than two hours and 15 minutes prior to the starting time of the game to meet League requirements.”
The standards for inspection are fairly limited. From Rule 2, Section 1: “The ball shall be made up of an inflated 12-1/2 to 13-1/2 urethane bladder enclosed in a pebble grained, leather case (natural tan color) without corrugations of any kind. It shall have the form of a prolate spheroid, and the size and weight shall be: long axis, 11 to 11-1/4 inches; long circumference, 28 to 28-1/2 inches; short circumference, 21 to 21-1/4 inches; weight, 14 to 15 ounces.”
As long as those conditions are met, the ball is fair game.
So who works on the kicking balls before each game?
“I think it’s a lot of people,” Clay said, “a lot of [equipment] guys, and they get feedback from [kicker] Jake [Elliott] and [punter] Braden [Mann], and everyone’s in cahoots in terms of what the ball wants to look like.”
“Cahoots” is probably not the best choice of word. However, it also may be the most accurate.
Does Clay think it’s good for the game?
“ The NFL wants more points?” he said. “There it is.”
Steelers kicker Chris Boswell told PFT after he kicked a Week 1 60-yard game-winner against the Jets that teams get 60 balls to start the season, and that each one can be used for three games during the season. We’ve asked the league for the full list of rules, procedures, and current do’s and don’ts regarding the kicking balls, especially as it relates to the process of getting them ready to be used during games.
Big Shield combines gambling, pro football, and the mob into a cautionary tale regarding inside information, and the dangers that come from selling it.
Football is back and so are Mike Florio and Chris Simms! Watch PFT Live for the latest news coming out of the regular season, postseason and offseason every Monday to Friday at 7 a.m. ET on Peacock and the NBC Sports NOW channel.
