Kai Forbath
Kai August Forbath is an American former professional football placekicker who played in the National Football League. He played college football for the UCLA Bruins, earning consensus All-American honors and winning the Lou Groza Award in 2009. Forbath signed with the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2011. He was also a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Redskins, New Orleans Saints, Minnesota Vikings, Jacksonville Jaguars, New England Patriots, Carolina Panthers, and Los Angeles Rams.
Early life
Forbath was born in Santa Monica, California. He attended Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks. During his last two prep seasons, Forbath converted 26-of-33 field goal attempts and scored 213 total points, with a long field goal of 57 yards. He also forced touchbacks on 150 of 188 kickoffs and made 134-of-135 extra point attempts. Forbath also served as the team's punter and had a punting average of 46 yards that led to him being named to the Los Angeles Times' All-Star team at punter. Forbath subsequently earned high school All-American recognition by USA Today. In addition to football, Forbath also played soccer in the West Valley Samba Soccer League. Following his senior season, Forbath was invited to play in the 2006 U.S. Army All-American Bowl and the CaliFlorida Bowl.Considered a three-star recruit by Rivals.com, Forbath was listed as the No. 1 placekicker in the nation among the class of 2006. He picked UCLA over California, Notre Dame, Oregon, among others.
College career
Forbath attended UCLA, where he played for the football team from 2006 to 2010.After redshirting his initial year at UCLA, Forbath made 25 of 30 field goals and all 30 points after touchdowns for a team-high 105 points in 2007. He became the first UCLA player to record five field goals of at least 50 yards in a season, including a freshman-best 54-yarder versus Oregon.
As a sophomore, Forbath received first-team All-Pacific-10 honors after making 19 of 22 field goals on the season, including his last 13 straight.
As a junior, Forbath made 28-of-31 field goals and 24-of-25 extra points. He connected on another three field goals from 50 yards or more and had then made 9-of-12 field goals from that distance. Competing with Leigh Tiffin of Alabama and Blair Walsh of Georgia, Forbath was named the winner of the 2009 Lou Groza Award, recognizing the best placekicker in college football. He was named as a Consensus All-American.
As a senior, Forbath made 13-of-18 field goals and 27-of-27 extra points. On September 25, 2010, he kicked two field goals in leading the Bruins to an upset victory over the #7 Texas Longhorns 34–12 in front of a stadium-record 101,437 fans in Austin, Texas. The previous week, Forbath kicked a 42-yard field goal in the third quarter to give the Bruins a 24–3 lead in the game against then-#23 Houston. UCLA defeated Houston by a score of 31–13. On November 6, 2010, Forbath kicked a game winning 51-yard field goal in the last second of the game to give the Bruins a 17–14 victory over Oregon State, and he was named Pac-10 Conference Special Team Player-of-the-Week.
At the time, Forbath finished his college career with an 84.2 career percentage, 85 career field goals, 357 career points, tied for most career games with at least two field goals in NCAA history and tied for most career games with at least three field goals in NCAA history.
Professional career
Dallas Cowboys (first stint)
Although he was projected as the second-best kicker in the 2011 NFL draft, Forbath was not selected. On August 2, 2011, he was signed by the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent, but because Forbath had a pre-existing quad injury that did not allow him to practice and that would take a lengthy time to heal, Forbath was immediately placed on the active non-football injury list. At the time, the Cowboys had an open competition for the placekicker job and were covering themselves in case a player did not emerge from the four kickers they had in training camp at one time.On August 30, Forbath was placed on the Non-Football Injury list, so he would not count towards the first 80-player cut and later towards the 53-player limit. The performance of fellow rookie Dan Bailey made the Cowboys decide to keep Forbath on the NFI list for the entire regular season.
On April 16, 2012, Forbath was waived by the Cowboys, having never participated in a practice with the team.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers claimed Forbath off waivers on April 17, 2012. During the preseason, Forbath made all five field goal attempts, including a successful 55-yard kick.Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins signed Forbath on October 9, 2012, replacing Billy Cundiff. Forbath made his NFL and Washington debut knocking through a 50-yard attempt as his first career NFL field goal in the home game against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 6 on October 14, 2012. His performance was essential in Washington's victory over the Baltimore Ravens in Week 14, where he recorded 48-yard and 49-yard field goals and then converted a game-winning 34-yard field goal in overtime.On December 23, 2012, in Week 16, Forbath set the NFL record for consecutive field goals to begin a career with 17 in a row, beating Garrett Hartley, who previously held the record at 16. The football was sent to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In the 2012 season, he finished converting 33 of 34 extra point attempts and 17 of 18 field goal attempts.
In the 2013 season, Forbath converted all 26 extra point attempts and 18 of 22 field goal attempts in 13 games.
On October 19, 2014, in Week 7, Forbath scored the game-winning field goal in the 19–17 win over the Tennessee Titans. He was named NFC Special Teams Player of the Week after scoring the overtime winning field goal against the Dallas Cowboys the following week. He once again scored the game-winning field goal in the 27–24 Week 16 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. In the 2014 season, Forbath finished converting 31 of 32 extra point attempts and 24 of 27 field goal attempts.
Washington offered Forbath a $1,542,000 right of first refusal tender on March 8, 2015, which he signed on April 15. Forbath was released by the team on September 14.
Forbath finished his career with Washington as the second-most accurate kicker in team history, converting 87.0 percent of his field goal attempts. His mark of 60 field goals and 91 extra points rank fifth in franchise history.
New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints signed Forbath on October 19, 2015, to replace a struggling Zach Hocker, who was released by the team.Forbath played in first career game as a member of the Saints in Week 7 against the Indianapolis Colts on October 25, 2015, converting on three-of-four extra point attempts in the 27–21 victory. On November 1, in Week 8, Forbath ended a record-breaking 52–49 shootout against the New York Giants at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome with a 50-yard field goal as time expired. On November 29, in Week 12, he kicked a career-long 57-yard field goal against the Houston Texans, which is the third-longest in team history. On January 3, 2016, Forbath kicked a 30-yard game-winning field goal in the regular season finale in Week 17 against the Atlanta Falcons as time expired, his sixth career game-winner. Forbath finished the 2015 season converting 34 of 35 extra point attempts and 10 of 15 field goal attempts.
On March 10, 2016, the Saints re-signed Forbath. Throughout the team's 2016 preseason, Forbath competed with Connor Barth, and the Saints ultimately kept Forbath while cutting Barth. However, a few days later, on September 6, the Saints also released Forbath in favor of an undrafted rookie kicker Wil Lutz, who had gone through training camp with the Baltimore Ravens.
Minnesota Vikings
On November 16, 2016, the Minnesota Vikings signed Forbath to a one-year, $760,000 contract after releasing incumbent kicker Blair Walsh. In Forbath's first game with the Vikings, he converted one field goal and three extra points against the Arizona Cardinals. Three weeks later, Forbath kicked a season-high four field goals against the Jacksonville Jaguars. He finished his first season with the Vikings converting all 15 field goal attempts and 11 of 14 extra point attempts.On October 9, 2017, Forbath kicked two field goals, including the game-winner against the Chicago Bears. During Week 7, he converted six field goals, including a 52-yarder, in a 24–16 win over the Ravens, earning NFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors. Forbath is one of three Vikings' kickers to kick six field goals in a game; the last time this happened was in 1998. On October 29, Forbath kicked four field goals against the Cleveland Browns. In the 2017 season, he converted 34 of 39 extra point attempts and 32 of 38 field goal attempts. On January 14, 2018, Forbath kicked three field goals against the New Orleans Saints in the NFC Divisional Round.
On March 20, 2018, Forbath re-signed with the Vikings. However, the team traded up to draft Auburn kicker Daniel Carlson the next month. On August 20, Forbath was released by the Vikings after losing the starting job to Carlson.