Obscure rule leads to Chargers getting 1st made fair catch free kick since 1976

It takes a specific circumstance for an NFL team to try a fair catch free kick. That’s why one hadn’t been made in almost 50 years.

On Thursday night, viewers got a lesson on a little-known rule: the fair catch free kick.

The Denver Broncos couldn’t run out the rest of the first half against the Los Angeles Chargers so they punted with eight seconds left. On the kick, there was an interference penalty on the Broncos, when they got too close to the returner and contacted him as he made a fair catch signal. Time had run out in the half. That set Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh’s wheels in motion.

The Chargers had the option to attempt a free kick after the fair catch. It was the rare instance in which it made sense because no time remained on the clock. It’s also rare that a fair catch on a punt would put the receiving team in range to even try the kick, but the Broncos’ 15-yard penalty made it a reasonable 57-yard attempt for Cameron Dicker of the Chargers.

So why not? Dicker had a holder and kicked it like a kickoff without a snap, and he hit the 57-yard kick for three points. Ray Wersching of the then-San Diego Chargers was the last kicker to make a fair catch free kick, all the way back in 1976. There hadn’t even been one attempted since Joey Slye of the Carolina Panthers in 2019.

It’s not often you see something you’ve likely never seen before in an NFL game, but that was it.

Broncos coach Sean Payton said his team wasn’t surprised by the attempt.

“It’s a fair catch free kick situation, we practice it,” Broncos coach Payton told Amazon Prime Video coming off the field at the end of the first half. “He’s got the leg. The penalty put them in range.”

The Chargers got three unexpected points right at the end of the half. It’s a good thing their coach understands the depths of the NFL rulebook.