How Kane's NFL dream could become a reality

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England men's football captain Harry Kane has made no secret of his desire to one day play in the NFL.

As recently as last month the Bayern Munich striker, 32, said that trying to become an American football kicker was "always something that's in the back of my mind".

"I know it will be a lot of hard work," he said in 2023. "I'm not expecting to just rock up and start kicking field goals. It would be a lot of practice."

One Super Bowl winner is willing to help him with that as he is not only backing Kane to make the transition, but offering to train him.

As Kane prepared to win his 100th cap for England last September, football writer Henry Winter spoke to BBC Radio 5 Live about what the future may hold for England's all-time leading goalscorer.

"If I was taking a punt, as it were, I would say that within three years he'll be a kicker in the NFL," said Winter. "He's talked about it, he's big mates with Tom Brady, and it has been done before."

As a young footballer, Kane was inspired by a 2011 documentary he watched about legendary quarterback Brady and then became a New England Patriots fan.

He attended the Patriots' 2019 Super Bowl win in Atlanta and became friends with Brady and team-mate Julian Edelman, who are both now retired.

During a 2023 appearance on Good Morning America, external - the most-watched morning show in the US - Kane said that becoming an NFL kicker is "something I want to definitely explore" when he retires from football.

"The NFL is something I've been following for about 10 years now," he said. "I love it, so I would love to give it a go."

Dustin Colquitt emulated his father Craig by not just becoming an NFL punter but a Super Bowl champion, with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2020.

Colquitt spent 15 seasons with the Chiefs, setting the franchise record for most games (238), but he grew up dreaming of playing in the Premier League.

He played football at high school, earning college scholarship offers, and remains a big football fan.

He remembers cheering on Kane during World Cup games and, asked if the ex-Tottenham striker could become an NFL kicker, Colquitt told BBC Sport: "Absolutely, if he focused on it. He would do fantastic. I've seen some of his finishing skills.

"I would love to actually work with him just because I love soccer, and his excitement. He's seeking this out - that's part of the fibre of his being, that he wants to try this NFL thing."

Almost always, a team's punter holds the ball in place for kickers. As Colquitt puts it, a punter "holds the kicker's job literally in his hands" and "if you have a bad hold, really bad things happen".

So if and when Kane begins to practise kicking, he needs an experienced holder, otherwise his bid to become a two-sport athlete could be over before it has truly begun.

"The guy that holds for those field goals, that is extremely important - knowing where the laces [on the ball] are, if you've got wind," Colquitt said.

"So when he's ready, I'm ready."

Colquitt said punters and kickers tend to approach each kick with a mentality of "one shot, one kill - you've got one shot and you better kill it".

"You only need them when you need them, but they've got to be money when they're counted on," he added.

Whereas punters punt the ball out of their hands downfield, kickers must kick a stationary ball between the posts - for a field goal or an extra point after a touchdown (PAT).

Kane told The Overlap with Gary Neville, external in 2021 that the kicks an NFL kicker makes are "almost the equivalent to a penalty kick".

Not including shootouts, Kane has scored 93 out of 105 penalties during his senior career, and missed only one of 37 since his World Cup miss against France in December 2022.

"A lot of people can score penalties in training or kick it a long way, but can you do it under pressure when the moment's big, when the game's on the line?" Kane told Neville.

"That aspect is the bit where maybe I have a bit of an advantage over some younger people coming through."

When Winter said "it has been done before", he referenced former Austria footballer Toni Fritsch.

After Pete Gogolak introduced football-style kicking to the NFL in the 1960s, the Dallas Cowboys toured Europe scouting similar kickers and discovered Fritsch, who quit football aged 26 to pursue an NFL career.

The Cowboys won the 1972 Super Bowl at the end of his first season and, although Fritsch was injured, he received a Super Bowl ring.

Garo Yepremian, Morten Andersen, Jan Stenerud, Toni Linhart and Neil O'Donoghue also became NFL kickers after playing football in Europe, while Clive Allen was 35 when he tried his luck with the London Monarchs in 1997.

The former Tottenham and England striker made six out of six field goals and seven out of 10 PATs - but none of his field goals were from further than 40 yards and his American football adventure ended there.

Current NFL kickers Brandon Aubrey (Dallas Cowboys), Harrison Butker (Kansas City Chiefs) and Cairo Santos (Chicago Bears) have all played football, and the fact Nick Folk and Matt Prater are still making field goals at 41 offers Kane hope.

His Bayern contract runs until 2027, just before his 34th birthday, so, although he is open to signing an extension, there is still time for Kane's NFL dream to come true.