Tottenham's Harry Kane wants to become NFL kicker
Tottenham Hotspur striker and England men's national team captain Harry Kane wants to one day exchange his international football boots for a chance to kick in NFL games.
"It's something I want to definitely explore," Kane said about possibly becoming an NFL placekicker during a Wednesday appearance on "Good Morning America," per Jeremy Bergman of the league's website. "I know it will be a lot of hard work. I'm not expecting to just walk up and start kicking field goals. It would be a lot of practice, a lot of hard work. But yeah, it's something I'd love to do. The NFL is something I have been following for about 10 years now, and I love it, so I would love to give it a go."
Kane, a three-time Premier League Golden Boot winner as the competition's top scorer for a season, turns 30 years old this summer and remains in the prime of his current career.
Outlets such as Sky Sports News have recently linked him with a summer move to Manchester United after Tottenham finished eighth in the league table and missed out on next season's UEFA Champions League tournament.
Back in July 2019, George Flood of the Evening Standard wrote about how Kane said at that time that kicking in the NFL was "something that in 10 or 12 years I definitely want to try." Kane has a history of making field goals in practice situations:
Meanwhile, Hall-of-Fame kicker Morten Andersen told Flood roughly four years ago that Kane receiving a full-time gig from an NFL team is "not going to happen" because the England superstar possesses no real in-game experience at attempting field goals and other kicks in front of "millions of people."
Andersen added that Kane trying to make the jump to the NFL would be like an American footballer "becoming a specialist free-kick taker for Man United."
Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio mentioned on Wednesday that Kane would be competing against "an endless supply of guys who have been kicking (or trying to kick) field goals" for much of their lives.
Kane's contract with Tottenham expires after next season, and his potential NFL timeline indicates he could look to make the transition from Europe to the United States as soon as the summer of 2029 when he's 36. As Bergman pointed out, some kickers have managed to play in the NFL into their 40s, so the prolific goal-scorer shouldn't give up on this dream just yet regardless of what doubters such as Andersen and Florio say.
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