Roughing vs Running Into the Kicker: NFL Penalties

Aug 18

2 min read

Updated: 5 hours ago

Roughing the kicker is an NFL personal foul carrying 15 yards from the previous spot and an automatic first down. Running into the kicker costs five yards and has no automatic first down.

Part of Football 101. Explore the guide to choose your next topic.

Roughing the kicker is a 15-yard personal foul and an automatic first down in the NFL. It generally applies when a defender hits the kicker’s plant leg while the kicking leg is still airborne, slides into a grounded kicker with severe contact, or commits another act of unnecessary roughness.

The difference is not simply whether a collision looks hard. Officials consider the kicker's body position, the contact and the events leading into it.

What counts as roughing?

Roughing includes contact with the plant leg while the kicking leg remains in the air. It also covers severe contact after both feet are down and other unnecessary roughness against the kicker. Flagrant action can lead to disqualification.

Running into generally includes contact with the kicking leg or foot, or sliding underneath and preventing the kicker from landing with both feet. An act that also meets unnecessary roughness standards can be more serious than the five yard category.

When contact is excepted

The rule includes exceptions for incidental contact after the defender touches the kick in flight, contact simultaneous with the kick, contact caused by the kicker's own movement and contact caused by an opponent redirecting the defender into the kicker.

A kicker running behind the line, recovering a loose ball on the ground or moving outside the pocket can change which protections apply. Outside the pocket, clearly reestablishing a kicking posture matters. These exceptions are not permission for a separate unnecessary hit.

Touching the ball is also not blanket immunity for any later act. The subsequent contact must fit the actual exception.

Why fourth down changes the decision

Suppose a team punts on fourth and 12. Accepting five yards for running into normally produces another fourth down, now with seven yards needed. Roughing awards a new first down.

On fourth and 3, five yards can reach the line to gain. That first down comes from the distance, not an automatic first down provision. A team may decline the penalty when the kick's result is more valuable than retrying the down.

Kicker protection versus returner protection

This rule concerns a scrimmage kicker behind the line. At the other end of a punt, kick catch interference protects a receiver's opportunity to field an airborne ball. Kickoffs have a separate free kicker rule.

On replay, check the defender's touch of the ball, any redirection by a blocker and the kicker's legs at contact. Those details explain why apparently similar collisions can produce no foul, five yards or 15 yards.