What Is a Fair Catch Free Kick? Explaining One of the NFL’s Most Obscure Rules

Cameron Dicker and the Los Angeles Chargers made NFL history on Thursday night when they converted the first fair catch kick since 1976. While it only accounted for three of the Chargers' 34 points in their win over the Denver Broncos, it swung the game and made coaches, fans, players and even the announcers very excited because it was such a rare occurrence.

It also confused a lot of people, including the players.

While the fair catch kick has been around for about as long as football itself, the circumstances required for a team to even attempt one almost never happen. Here's a look at the obscure rule.

What is a fair catch kick?

Whenever a player makes a fair catch his team has the option to play a regular down or attempt a free kick. Or, as was the case on Thursday, if there is a foul that interferes with a fair catch, the team gets that choice after the penalty yardage is tacked on.

Here's the official NFL wording:

Article 4. Putting Ball In Play After Fair Catch

After a fair catch is made or is awarded as the result of fair catch interference, the receiving team has the option of putting the ball in play by a snap or fair catch kick (drop kick or place kick without a tee) from the spot of the catch or succeeding spot after enforcement of any applicable penalties (3-9 and 11-4-3). This includes the 15-yard penalty enforced from the receiving team’s 20-yard line as applicable if the fair catch is made or awarded in his end zone from fair catch interference or illegal contact with the receiver after he has made a fair catch.

The defense must line up 10 yards from where the ball is placed and they can return the kick. Basically, it's a free field goal attempt with the kickoff coverage team on one side and the other team's kick return unit on the other. Oh, and you also have the option for a drop kick, but we've only seen one of those since 1941.

How many fair catch kicks have there been in NFL history?

There have been seven successful fair catch kicks recorded in NFL history and at least 29 attempted. It's unclear if those are the actual numbers because you're dealing with games that took place more than a half-century ago without television cameras in the stadiums so who knows how many the world doesn't know about.

Curly Lambeau—yes, that Lambeau— made the first fair catch kick in 1921.

Dicker's attempt was just the sixth in the 21st Century and there wans't a single fair catch kick attempted in the 1990s.

When was the last fair catch kick?

Before Dicker's kick on Thursday, there hadn't been a fair catch kick attempted in an NFL game since 2019. Carolina's Joey Slye attempted one that had the length, but went wide right in a game in London. You can watch it on YouTube and hear the excitement in Rich Eisen and Steve Mariucci's voices as well as see the confusion on the faces of the fans in attendance.