Have the Falcons Solved Their Kicker Problem With Zane Gonzalez?

FLOWERY BRANCH – After years of stability at kicker, the Atlanta Falcons found themselves searching for answers in 2025. After cycling through options and losing games in the process, they may have finally found one with Zane Gonzalez.

Before Gonzalez arrived in Atlanta, the Falcons struggled to find any consistency at the position, making him their third attempt to stabilize the role this season.

Longtime Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo started the season after beating out rookie signee Lenny Kreig during training camp. His brief stint this season came to an end after a crucial miss in Week 1 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers cost them a chance to win.

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The Falcons opted to bring in Parker Romo, who won the subsequent kicking competition and locked down the job with a five-field goal performance in Week 2 against the Minnesota Vikings. Koo was released by Week 3 – but so was Romo by Week 10 after he had some critical misses that cost the Falcons games.

Between the two of them, the Falcons’ special teams unit converted just 76.5% of their attempts, which was (at the time) good for 26th in the NFL through the first nine weeks of the season.

After all that, the Falcons turned to Gonzalez in Week 10 and have not looked back. In the eight games since, the Falcons have converted 15-of-18 attempts (83.3%), but two of those kicks were blocked, while the third miss was from 50+ yards. Gonzalez has also made a pair of game-winning field goals and has a long of 56 yards.

His strong performance down the stretch seems to have given Falcons head coach Raheem Morris the confidence to lean on him in big moments. The most recent of these came in Week 17. When the Falcons got the ball to the edge of field goal range, they opted to run three straight plays up the middle and left the game up to Gonzalez to bring them home.

Gonzalez delivered.

RIGHT. DOWN. THE. MIDDLE.

Zane Gonzalez drills the FG to put the @AtlantaFalcons up three with 21 seconds left.

LARvsATL on ESPN/ABC
Stream on @NFLPlus and ESPN App pic.twitter.com/xRkLknRxNE
— NFL (@NFL) December 30, 2025

Gonzalez says that he has rediscovered his confidence this season in Atlanta.

“It's kind of like golfing, confidence plus you have to trust your swing,” he said Monday night after his game-winning kick against the Rams. “But for me, all the guys around me, they do a good job of lifting me up and keeping my confidence up. For me, it's just the faith they have in me gives me the confidence to go out there and do my job.”

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Gonzalez signed a one-year deal worth $1.17 million when he joined the Falcons earlier this season, and his performance has put him in a position to earn a longer look. A short-term extension in the range of $2.25 million to $3 million would be in line with veteran kicker contracts around the league, setting up a potential competition with Lenny Krieg next summer.

Ultimately, their midseason find may prove to be their best option moving forward.

For a team that spent much of the season searching for stability, the Falcons may have already found it. Their best option may not have arrived with fanfare, but his production, poise, and performance in the biggest moments have given Atlanta something it had not had in a while at kicker: confidence in the result.