What Happens When an NFL Kick Hits the Goalpost?
Updated: Oct 10
An NFL kick that hits the receiving team’s goalpost or crossbar cannot bounce back into a live return. But hitting the frame does not automatically make a scoring attempt unsuccessful. A legal field goal can strike an upright or the crossbar and still go through.
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Officials answer two questions: did the attempt score, and which rules determine possession if it did not?
A bounce through can count
A legal field goal scores if the entire ball passes through the required plane above the crossbar and between the uprights, subject to the other scoring conditions. The frame contact does not cancel a kick that then satisfies that test. Our guide to when a field goal is good explains the plane and contact requirements.
If the kick rebounds into the end zone or field instead, nobody may pick it up and run. A returner celebrating with the rebound has not scored a return touchdown.
Where the next possession begins
An unsuccessful field goal that hits the receiving goal frame is administered under the missed kick rules. For the ordinary untouched attempt beyond the line, the receiving team starts at the kick spot or its 20, whichever gives it better field position. The kick spot is where the ball was struck, usually at the holder, rather than automatically the line of scrimmage. See ball placement after a missed field goal for the touching exceptions.
A punt hitting the receiving frame is dead in the end zone and produces the applicable touchback. An untouched kickoff striking that frame also becomes a touchback. A direct end zone kickoff touchback normally starts at the receiving 35; a kickoff from midfield that becomes a touchback starts at the 20 under the 2026 rule.
The rare opposite end
A scrimmage kick that strikes the kicking team’s own goal frame is a safety. Picture a punt near the offense’s goal line being deflected backward into its own crossbar. That is a different result from a punt reaching the opponent’s uprights.
The practical viewing habit is to identify whose goal was struck, then the type of kick. The frame stops a return opportunity; the scoring and possession rules supply the outcome.
Examples and illustrations
Keep learning
Kickoff touchback spots: See why 20 and 35 both appear.
Safety and restart: Follow the rare own goal frame result.
The kneeling holder: Understand the spot from which field goals are kicked.
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Rules reviewed October 10, 2026. 2026 NFL Rulebook (Rule 7, Section 2, Article 1(h); Rule 9, Section 4; Rule 11, Section 4; Rule 6, Section 1, Article 5).
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