Typically people say that the NFL stands for “not for long,” but one former Penn State football player has been able to defy the odds for almost two decades. However, after a career that will most likely earn an invite to the Hall of Fame, former Nittany Lion Robbie Gould has decided to call it a career. The Penn State letterman announced his retirement from the NFL this week after a long and successful 18-year career.
Penn State letterman Robbie Gould calls it quits after Hall of Fame career
Penn State letterman Robbie Gould will go down as one of the greatest kickers in NFL history. He converted 97.5% of his extra points and 86.5% of his field goals for his career. Gould made 447 field goals in his 18 seasons, good for 8th all-time in the NFL.
The former Penn State football player spent most of his career, 11 seasons, with the Chicago Bears, from 2005 to 2015. He spent a gap year with the New York Giants in 2016 before finishing up the final six years of his career in San Francisco.
Gould also has another statistic that he is probably most known for: a perfect kick percentage in the playoffs. The former Nittany Lion is a perfect 29 of 29 on field goals and 39 of 39 on extra points in the postseason. A truly dominant display of not only his accuracy, but being clutch and performing in the biggest moments.
From working construction to an all-time NFL great
Robbie Gould played at Penn State from 2001 to 2004. As a Nittany Lion, Gould made 39 field goals and 115 extra points in what is considered by many to be the dark days of Penn State football.
His best season at Penn State was in 2002, where he went 42 of 45 on extra point attempts and 17 of 22 on field goal attempts. However, due to the lack of team success during his time as a Nittany Lion, the Penn State letterman is mostly known for his time in the NFL.
Gould wasn’t selected in the 2005 NFL Draft, but spent time with the New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens his first season. The Patriots cut him in the preseason, while the Ravens waived him three weeks after they signed him.
Gould had assumed he was done kicking, so naturally, he started working construction in Pennsylvania. When the Bears needed a kicker, they tried to contact Gould, but were twice hung up on because he thought it was simply some of his college buddies pranking him. It was a good thing that the Chicago front office was persistent. Otherwise, we may know Robbie Gould as only the former Penn State kicker.
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