Ryan Walker Longwell (born August 16, 1974) is an American former professional football player who was a placekicker in the National Football League (NFL). After playing college football for the California Golden Bears, he started his professional career with the San Francisco 49ers, but never played a game for the franchise. He then played for the Green Bay Packers from 1997 to 2005. He played for the Minnesota Vikings from 2006 to 2011. He also played briefly for the Seattle Seahawks during the 2012 playoffs.
Early life
Longwell attended high school in Bend, Oregon, where he played high school football for Bend High School's Lava Bears.
Minnesota Vikings
Longwell signed a free agent contract with the Vikings in the 2006 offseason. In his second game with the Minnesota Vikings, Longwell had one of the best performances of his career. He was responsible for all 16 of the Vikings points in a 16–13 win over the Carolina Panthers, kicking three field goals (including the game-winning field goal in overtime) and throwing a 16-yard touchdown pass on a fake field goal play in the fourth quarter. In the 2008 season finale against the New York Giants, he kicked a 50-yard field goal as time expired to help the Vikings clinch the division in a 20–19 victory.
During the 2010 offseason, Longwell, a close friend of Brett Favre, became a sort of unofficial spokesman for Favre, as the media frequently questioned him on whether Favre would return to the Vikings or retire. When Longwell picked Favre up at the airport in Minnesota on August 17, 2010, TV station helicopters followed Longwell's SUV all the way to Vikings headquarters. In 2018, he was inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame.
Seattle Seahawks and retirement
On January 8, 2013, Longwell was signed by the Seattle Seahawks after Steven Hauschka suffered a calf injury. He kicked four extra points (with no field goal attempts) in the Divisional Round loss to Atlanta. On August 12, 2013, the Green Bay Packers announced that Longwell would retire as a Packer.
Career regular season statistics
Career high/best bolded
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" style="margin: auto; text-align:right; font-size:90%; width:800px;"
|-
!style="background-color:#dcdcdc;" colspan="17" | Regular season statistics
|- style="font-size:x-small;"
!Season||Team (record)||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|-
|style="text-align:center;"|1997 ||style="text-align:left;" nowrap="nowrap"|GB (13–3)
|16 ||24 ||30 ||80.0 ||4–4 ||7–8 ||10–13 ||2–4 ||1–1 ||50 ||2 ||48 ||48 ||100.0 ||120
|-
|style="text-align:center;"|1998 ||style="text-align:left;" nowrap="nowrap"|GB (11–5)
|16 ||29 ||33 ||87.9 ||1–1 ||6–6 ||13–15 ||9–10 ||0–1 ||45 ||0 ||41 ||43 ||95.3 ||128
|-
|style="text-align:center;"|1999 ||style="text-align:left;" nowrap="nowrap"|GB (8–8)
|16 ||25 ||30 ||83.3 ||0–0 ||8–9 ||8–9 ||8–10 ||1–2 ||50 ||3 ||38 ||38 ||100.0 ||113
|-
|style="text-align:center;"|2000 ||style="text-align:left;" nowrap="nowrap"|GB (9–7)
|16 ||33 ||38 ||86.8 ||0–0 ||7–8 ||10–10 ||13–15 ||3–5 ||52 ||1 ||32 ||32 ||100.0 ||131
|-
|style="text-align:center;"|2001 ||style="text-align:left;" nowrap="nowrap"|GB (9–7)
|16 ||20 ||31 ||64.5 ||0–0 ||3–4 ||9–10 ||7–14 ||1–3 ||54 ||2 ||44 ||45 ||97.8 ||104
|-
|style="text-align:center;"|2002 ||style="text-align:left;" nowrap="nowrap"|GB (12–4)
|16 ||28 ||34 ||82.4 ||1–1 ||8–9 ||12–13 ||7–10 ||0–1 ||49 ||1 ||44 ||44 ||100.0 ||128
|-
|style="text-align:center;"|2003 ||style="text-align:left;" nowrap="nowrap"|GB (10–6)
|16 ||23 ||26 ||88.5 ||0–0 ||5–5 ||11–11 ||6–9 ||1–1 ||50 ||0 ||51 ||51 ||100.0 ||120
|-
|style="text-align:center;"|2004 ||style="text-align:left;" nowrap="nowrap"|GB (10–6)
|16 ||24 ||28 ||85.7 ||0–0 ||8–8 ||8–9 ||6–8 ||2–3 ||53 ||0 ||48 ||48 ||100.0 ||120
|-
|style="text-align:center;"|2005 ||style="text-align:left;" nowrap="nowrap"|GB (4–12)
|16 ||20 ||27 ||74.1 ||0–0 ||7–7 ||6–10 ||3–5 ||4–5 ||53 ||1 ||30 ||31 ||96.8 ||90
|-
|style="text-align:center;"|2006 ||style="text-align:left;" nowrap="nowrap"|MIN (6–10)
|16 ||21 ||25 ||84.0 ||2–2 ||7–7 ||8–8 ||4–6 ||0–2 ||49 ||2 ||27 ||28 ||96.4 ||90
|-
|style="text-align:center;"|2007 ||style="text-align:left;" nowrap="nowrap"|MIN (8–8)
|16 ||20 ||24 ||83.3 ||0–0 ||3–3 ||6–6 ||10–11 ||1–4 ||55 ||1 ||39 ||40 ||96.9 ||99
|-
|style="text-align:center;"|2008 ||style="text-align:left;" nowrap="nowrap"|MIN (10–6)
|16 ||29 ||34 ||85.3 ||0–0 ||10–10 ||7–9 ||6–9 ||6–6 ||54 ||2 ||40 ||40 ||100.0 ||127
|-
|style="text-align:center;"|2009 ||style="text-align:left;" nowrap="nowrap"|MIN (12–4)
|16 ||26 ||28 ||92.9 ||1–1 ||10–10 ||5–6 ||8–9 ||2–2 ||52 ||2 ||54 ||55 ||98.2 ||132
|-
|style="text-align:center;"|2010 ||style="text-align:left;" nowrap="nowrap"|MIN (6–10)
|16 ||17 ||18 ||94.4 ||0–0 ||7–7 ||8–9 ||2–2 ||0–0 ||48 ||1 ||30 ||31 ||96.8 ||81
|-
|style="text-align:center;"|2011 ||style="text-align:left;" nowrap="nowrap"|MIN (3–13)
|16 ||22 ||28 ||78.6 ||0–0 ||7–7 ||7–8 ||6–10 ||2–3 ||53 ||1 ||38 ||39 ||97.4 ||104
|-
!colspan="2"|Career (15 seasons) ||240 ||361 ||434 ||83.2 ||9–9 ||103–108 ||128–146 ||97–132 ||24–39 ||55 ||19 ||604 ||613 ||98.5 ||1687
|}
Personal life
Longwell is the cousin of 1992 and 1996 Olympic athlete Michael Orr.
See also
- List of most consecutive starts and games played by National Football League players
References
External links
- Ryan Longwell at NFL.com