Florida State kicker Ryan Fitzgerald is the best player at his position in the 2025 NFL Draft. A Lou Groza Award finalist and First-Team All-American selection, Fitzgerald was a perfect 13-for-13 this past season. In 2023, he was a 90% kicker, having strung together back-to-back outstanding campaigns.
Fitzgerald recently spoke exclusively with The Draft Network. Fitzgerald discussed his experience at the NFL Combine, balancing leg strength with accuracy, his string of private workouts with NFL teams, and more.
JM: You got to participate at this year's NFL Combine. What does that look like for a kicker?
Ryan Fitzgerald: It was a really cool experience. I was around a great group of guys. We had a competitive room in Indianapolis. I’m just glad I got to partake in that experience. Obviously, everyone was super talented. To have a chance to compete against the other specialists in this draft class was great.
Pat McAfee was out there hyping us up during the competition (laughs). It was definitely an experience I’ll cherish for a long time.
JM: You went a perfect 13-for-13 this past season. You earned your invite to the NFL Combine. What an incredible achievement. You were also a 90% kicker in 2023. This marks a huge improvement from a difficult 2022 season. What led to your improvement over the past two seasons?
Ryan Fitzgerald: Going back to that 2022 season, I changed my swing, my kicking approach. I switched back midway through 2022 after a rough start. I actually finished 2022 strong. I kept working on the swing I was most comfortable with. Once I found that, it was over.
I’ve improved that swing over the years. I finished college with two great seasons because of it.
JM: You showed legitimate improvement. How do you balance the mental aspect of kicking with the physical?
Ryan Fitzgerald: You need to have a competitive mindset. There’s going to be days where maybe you don’t kick as well as you’d like to. You still have to get them through the uprights. Your mentality needs to be about perseverance. You’re competing with yourself on a daily basis.
JM: And how do you balance leg strength with accuracy? It can be difficult not to forego one or the other.
Ryan Fitzgerald: Shoot, you can have the leg strength required to hit from 65 yards out, but it won’t matter if you can’t accurately make your kicks from inside 50 yards. You won’t make a team.
Having the distance is great, but you also need to have the accuracy to make those routine kicks. That’s what matters. A lot of kickers have that leg strength from 60-plus, but you need to be accurate in order to make them.
JM: You have both. You made a career-best 59-yard field goal this past year. Talk to me about your explosive leg. It feels like NFL teams are putting more emphasis on kickers with big legs.
Ryan Fitzgerald: Looking at history, I don’t necessarily think kickers have gotten stronger over the years. I think there’s always been guys that have had that leg strength. The difference is guys are becoming more accurate from distance.
Last season, there was a 50 percent make percentage from distance by NFL kickers, which is the highest it’s ever been. Kickers are evolving to have that accuracy from long range. It’s been easier for NFL teams to find guys like that.
It’s a weapon. Having a guy like that gives an NFL team an advantage over a team that doesn’t have that capability.
JM: It sure does. Have you completed any team meetings lately, whether virtually or through on-field workouts?
Ryan Fitzgerald: I’ve had a few team interviews. I just had my first private workout with the New England Patriots, and I have more of them in the works with the Washington Commanders and Baltimore Ravens. I’ve been excited to show these teams what I can do. We’ll see what comes of it.
JM: There’s a lot of interest in you and it’s easy to see why. We've appreciated your time today. What kind of weapon is Ryan Fitzgerald going to be at the next level?
Ryan Fitzgerald: I’m going to put points on the board for our team. I have the range to execute kicks from wherever. I’m super excited to have this opportunity.
