Adam Vinatieri

Vinateri played his final NFL game a month before his 47th birthday, which makes him the third oldest player in the league's history.

Celebrated for his kicking accuracy and success under Pressure, Vinatieri completed several of the most crucial field goals in NFL history.

Adam Matthew Vinatieri (born December 28, 1972) is an American former football placekicker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 24 seasons with the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts.

Considered one of the greatest placekickers of all time, he is the NFL's all-time leading scorer at 2,673 points.

He also holds the NFL records for field goals made (599), postseason points (238), and overtime field goals made (12).

Vinatieri was born in Yankton, South Dakota, on December 28, 1972, the second child of four children to Paul Vinatieri and Judy M. (Goeken).

His father is of Italian descent and his other ancestry includes German and English.

Bahr at first seemed to be the favorite, as he had a long history with Patriots coach Bill Parcells, including a Super Bowl win under Parcells in the 1990 season.

However, Parcells ultimately made the decision to cut Bahr during the preseason and go with Vinatieri, mainly because Bahr was no longer capable of efficiently performing kickoffs.

In his rookie season, he chased down and tackled Dallas Cowboys returner Herschel Walker on a kickoff, leading Parcells to tell his rookie kicker "You're not a kicker—you're a football player."

In Week 4, Vinatieri converted five of six field goal attempts against the Jacksonville Jaguars, to earn AFC Special Teams Player of the Week.

He converted the 40-yard game-winning field goal in overtime of the 28–25 victory.

He finished his rookie season converting 39 of 42 extra point tries and 27 of 35 field goal attempts.

He graduated from Central High School in 1991.

Before starting as a kicker, Vinatieri was a quarterback and middle linebacker.

Vinatieri joined the Patriots as an undrafted free agent in 1996, where he played for 10 seasons, and was a member of the Colts for 14 seasons.

A four-time Super Bowl winner – three with the Patriots and one with the Colts – he has the most Super Bowl wins for a kicker.

He is also the only player to score 1,000 points for two different franchises.

Retiring in 2021 after a year in free agency, Vinatieri was the last active player whose career began in the 1990s.

Vinatieri spent the summer of 1996 training to compete professionally.

He received a tryout for the World League of American Football (later rebranded as NFL Europe), and earned a roster position with the Amsterdam Admirals as a kicker and punter.

Vinatieri played in New England for the first 10 years of his NFL career, during which he played in four Super Bowls, winning three titles.

In 1996, Vinatieri was signed by the Patriots as an undrafted free agent to be a kicker.

In order to become their starter, he had to compete with 17-year veteran Matt Bahr.

His first Super Bowl appearance was in his rookie season of 1996 when he played with the Patriots in their 35–21 loss to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XXXI.

All-Pro and game MVP Desmond Howard's Super Bowl-record 99 yard touchdown return ended the Patriots' bid for a comeback.

The game would mark the only Super Bowl defeat of Vinatieri's career (he didn't play in the Colts' loss in Super Bowl XLIV).

Vinatieri was named to the NFL All-Rookie Team.

In Week 7 of the 1997 season, Vinatieri won AFC Special Teams Player of the Week after converting all three extra point tries and all four field goal attempts in the 33–6 victory over the Buffalo Bills.

During the 2001–02 NFL playoffs, he converted the game-tying and winning kicks of New England's AFC Divisional Playoff game in blizzard conditions and the game-winning kick in the final seconds of Super Bowl XXXVI, earning the Patriots their first championship.

He would again convert a final-second kick to win Super Bowl XXXVIII, establishing himself as a key contributor of the Patriots' dynasty.

His younger brother Beau was a kicker at Black Hills State University before graduating in 2003.

When Vinatieri was five years old, his family moved to Rapid City, South Dakota.

As a child, he struggled to read and enrolled in classes for children with learning disabilities.

Vinatieri attended Central High School in Rapid City and was a letterman in football, wrestling, basketball, soccer, and track.

In football, he earned first-team All-State honors as a senior.

When asked in 2005, several years into his NFL career, why he no longer played one of those positions once he reached college, he replied, "I'm 6 feet tall and 200 pounds, and unfortunately the linebackers aren't that small, and neither are the quarterbacks."

Vinatieri received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, but was only there for two weeks before deciding to return home, where he then enrolled at South Dakota State University.

He was a four-year letterman there as a kicker and punter and he finished his collegiate career as the school's all-time leading scorer with 185 career points as well as being awarded first-team all-conference honors in each of his seasons.

In 2019, Vinatieri was named to the National Football League 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.