It\u2019s those moments when having a reliable kicker or punter who can deliver become irreplaceable. However, the same is true when a player fails to connect; the impact is everlasting. Who among longtime Chicago Bears fans can ever forget Cody Parkey\u2019s \u201cdouble doink\u201d during the 2018 NFL playoffs? \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n With the importance of a special teamer\u2019s impact in mind, these are the highest-ranking NFC West kickers and punters for 2026. \u00a0 <\/span>This list begins with two players who deserve an honorable mention. Although they didn\u2019t play a full season in 2025, they nonetheless distinguished themselves with a superior performance.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n At 24 years of age, L.A. Rams<\/a><\/span> kicker Harrison Mevis<\/a> made the most of his limited NFL opportunity. Appearing in nine regular-season games, he converted 12\/13 field goals (including a 52-yarder), along with 39\/39 extra points. During the postseason, the former UFL star proved his reliability, nailing 6\/6 field goals and all nine extra points. Mevis secured his place on the 2026 Rams roster with a one-year, $1,005,000 exclusive rights free agent<\/a> contract in March. He\u2019ll be a restricted free agent in 2027, but if Mevis continues to perform as well, it\u2019s a sure bet he\u2019ll be back with the team next year.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Before he was injured in Week 5, Arizona Cardinals’<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>punter Blake Gillikin was having a career-best season<\/a>. At the time of his injury, he ranked fourth in the NFL in both punting average (51.7) and net punting average (45.4). Gillikin was the only NFL punter who ranked in the top five in both categories. His 22 punts included 15 for 50-plus yards and seven that were over 60 yards. Three of those 60-yard punts occurred in a single game against the Tennessee Titans in Week 5.<\/p>\r\n In March of 2026, the San Francisco 49ers<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>signed former Pittsburgh Steelers punter Corliss Waitman<\/a> to a one-year contract. The 30-year-old recorded 62 punts during the 2025 regular season for 2,823 yards (longest of 67 yards) with 26 punts landing within the 20-yard line. He appeared in one postseason game where he recorded six punts for 273 yards and booted four of six punts inside the 20. Dickson, the nine-year veteran, continues to prove his value to the team that drafted him in the fifth round of the 2018 NFL Draft. With 52 punts in 2025 for 2,548 yards, with a 60-yarder as his longest and 20 inside the 20-yard line during the Seattle Seahawks <\/a><\/span>regular season, he proved to be an even more reliable weapon in the postseason. During the Seahawks’ Championship postseason run, the 30-year-old punter landed 10 of 15 punts within the 20-yard line, including three Super Bowl punts<\/a> that pinned the New England Patriots deep in their own territory.\u00a0 The likelihood of an NFL kicker remaining with one team throughout their career is incredibly low.\u00a0 <\/span>Kickers are the NFL’s least stable position, with veteran specialists frequently changing teams multiple times throughout their careers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n After playing for seven different teams during his nine-year NFL career, including San Francisco in 2025, Eddy Pineiro<\/a> may finally have found long-term stability with the 49ers. On March 11, 2026, Pi\u00f1eiro signed a four-year, $17 million extension<\/a> with $10 million guaranteed and an average annual salary of $4,250,000.<\/p>\r\n During the 2025 season, Pineiro became the NFL\u2019s highest-rated kicker with a 96.55% success rate on converting 28\/29 field goals, including five over 50 yards, with a longest of 59. He also connected on 34\/38 extra points. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n During the postseason, he added a sixth from 56 yards against the Seattle Seahawks. The veteran kicker\u2019s ability to deliver long-range kicks under pressure makes him one of the team’s most valuable players. In addition, Pineiro also thrilled his 2025 fantasy managers with 118 total points, ranking him as one of the top NFC West kickers for 2026. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n When it comes to kickers smashing records, no one does it better or more frequently than Seattle\u2019s Jason Myers. During his outstanding (presumed Hall of Fame) career, the 12-year veteran has set a new standard for NFL kickers. During the 2025 season alone, Myers set multiple franchise and NFL records, including tying his own record of nine 50-plus-yard field goals in a single season. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n Last year, he also set a new NFL record as the only player in NFL history to score 200 points in a single year. Not the only kicker, but the only NFL player. <\/i>In addition to delighting his fantasy managers with an astonishing 171 points during the regular season, Myers added another 35 points during the postseason for a total of 206 points. His postseason accomplishments included another NFL record of 5\/5 field goals during the Super Bowl.<\/p>\r\n Over 12 years in 171 games, Myers converted 297 of 347 field goals for 85.6% with a longest of 61 yards. Showing absolutely no signs of slowing down as he ages, his 567 points scored since 2022 are the most of any kicker in the NFL, ranking him the top NFC West kicker for 2026. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The top kickers and punters in the NFC West division are among the best in the NFL. With that in mind, here are the rankings for the top NFC West kickers and punters entering the 2026 season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5208,"featured_media":290758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,33,34,6431,33916,31,32],"tags":[34991,34992,5537,33581,1323,8439,236],"class_list":["post-290220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-news","category-cardinals","category-rams","category-nfl-teams","category-power-rankings","category-49ers","category-seahawks","tag-blake-gillikin","tag-corliss-waitman","tag-eddy-pineiro","tag-harrison-mevis","tag-jason-myers","tag-michael-dickson","tag-nfc-west"],"modified_by":"Drew Crabtree","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5208"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290220"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":290775,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290220\/revisions\/290775"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Honorable Mention: Harrison Mevis, LA Rams Kicker<\/h3>\r\n
The Rams struggled over the past few seasons to find a reliable kicker who could keep pace with the team\u2019s high-octane scoring offense. Has the team finally found their man?<\/p>\r\nHonorable Mention: Blake Gillikin, Arizona Cardinals Punter<\/h3>\r\n
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<\/h3>\r\n4. Corliss Waitman, San Francisco 49ers Punter<\/h3>\r\n
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A four-year NFL veteran, Waitman has appeared in 52 games and delivered 230 punts for 10,673 yards, averaging 46.4, with 84 inside the 20-yard line. The 49ers are hoping he\u2019ll make the same impact for San Francisco in 2026.<\/p>\r\n3. Michael Dickson, Seattle Seahawks Punter<\/h3>\r\n
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Dickson\u2019s outstanding career stats include 133 games with 556 punts for 26,829 yards with an average of 48.3 and 232 punts landing inside the 20-yard line. As the returning Super Bowl champions, the Seahawks are one of the stronger teams. Dickson will continue to reign as one of the top NFC West punters in 2026. \u00a0<\/p>\r\n2. Eddy Pineiro, San Francisco 49ers Kicker<\/h3>\r\n
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<\/h3>\r\n1. Jason Myers, Seattle Seahawks kicker\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\r\n