Joseph Thomas Nedney (born March 22, 1973) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

placekicker Placekicker, or simply kicker (PK or K), is the player in gridiron football who is responsible for the kicking duties of field goals and extra points. In many cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist or punter. S ...

. Born and raised in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

, Nedney played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

at San Jose State and signed as an undrafted player with the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

in 1996. He played for the 49ers from 2005 to 2010 after having played for the Dolphins,

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play th ...

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Ra ...

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. ...

, and

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their hom ...

Early years

Nedney was born in

and attended

Santa Teresa High School Santa Teresa High School (also referred to as STHS) is a public high school located in the suburban Santa Teresa neighborhood of southern San Jose, California. The school is a member of the East Side Union High School District and serves studen ...

. He lettered in football as a kicker/punter and basketball as a guard/forward.

College career

Nedney played

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) ...

, where he was a four-year letterman. He graduated as the school's all-time leading scorer with 236 points, going 39-for-70 in

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ba ...

attempts (including a school record 62-yarder) and 119-of-132

extra point The conversion, try (American football, also known as a point(s) after touchdown, PAT, or (depending on the number of points) extra point/2-point conversion), or convert (Canadian football) occurs immediately after a touchdown during which the sc ...

s. He also punted as a senior, averaging 37.8 yards per punt on 70 punts. In 1998, San Jose State awarded him a degree in

recreation Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or plea ...

after Nedney completed an internship at the Arizona Cardinals community relations department.

Professional career

Nedney started his NFL career in 1996, bouncing around practice squads for the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. It is the t ...

, and

. He then joined the Dolphins full-time for the

1996 NFL season The 1996 NFL season was the 77th regular season of the National Football League and the season was marked by notable controversies from beginning to end. Most significantly, the Cleveland Browns relocation controversy resulted in a then-unique ...

, and led the team in scoring with 89 points. The following season, he signed with the

, who he stayed with for two and a half seasons, and at one point sharing kicking duties with veteran

Chris Jacke Christopher Lee Jacke (born March 12, 1966) is a former professional American football placekicker best known for playing for the Green Bay Packers in the National Football League. Before his NFL career, Jacke played collegiately at the Universi ...

. In 1999, he was waived by the Cardinals, and then picked up by the Raiders, where he finished the season before being released. He was picked up by the

at the start of the 2000 NFL season to fill in for the injured

Jason Elam Jason Elam (born March 8, 1970) is a former American football placekicker. He was drafted by the Denver Broncos in the third round of the 1993 NFL Draft and played 15 seasons with the Broncos and two with the Atlanta Falcons. A three-time Pro Bo ...

, but was waived after three games and then signed by the

. Nedney went on to join the

the following year, and was their kicker for four years, until injuring his

hamstring In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury. In quadrupe ...

during the

2004 NFL season The 2004 NFL season was the 85th regular season of the National Football League. With New England as the defending league champions, regular season play was held from September 9, 2004 to January 2, 2005. Hurricanes forced the rescheduling o ...

. During the 2002 playoffs, he was involved in a controversial running into the kicker penalty against the Steelers during overtime. Nedney had just missed a 31-yard field goal, but was given another opportunity by the penalty. He made his second try, thus winning the game. After the game Nedney said, "He got a pretty good hit on me, but when I'm done playing ball I might try acting." He signed with the 49ers in March 2005. Nedney went 26 for 28 in 2005, and kicked a career high 56-yard field goal against the St. Louis Rams on

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...

. He was the Co-MVP for the 49ers, and quickly re-signed with the team during the offseason. In the final game of the

1999 NFL season The 1999 NFL season was the 80th regular season of the National Football League. The Cleveland Browns returned to the field for the first time since the 1995 season, while the Tennessee Oilers changed their name to " Tennessee Titans," with ...

while Nedney was with the

, the Chiefs were denied a trip to the playoffs and an

AFC West The American Football Conference – Western Division or AFC West is one of the four divisions of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The division comprises the Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, ...

division title in the final game of the season when Nedney kicked a field-goal in overtime, giving the division to the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 a ...

instead. Ironically, Nedney, with the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's Nationa ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

, kicked a field goal in overtime against the

, knocking them from the playoff picture and giving the Chiefs the final wild-card spot in the playoffs. On October 31, 2007, the NFL fined Nedney $7,500 for giving a fan the middle finger during the team's loss to the

Saints In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Orth ...

on October 28. On July 28, 2011, he was released by the 49ers. and retired the next day.

Career regular season statistics

''Career high/best bolded''

Coaching career

From 2011 to 2014, Nedney was varsity special teams coach for the

Scotts Valley High School Scotts Valley High School (SVHS) is a public high school located in Scotts Valley, California. It was founded in 1999 and is a part of the Scotts Valley Unified School District, which is in Santa Cruz County. Athletics Scotts Valley sports inc ...

References

External links

San Francisco 49ers profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nedney, Joe 1973 births Living people American football placekickers Arizona Cardinals players Carolina Panthers players Denver Broncos players Miami Dolphins players Oakland Raiders players San Francisco 49ers players San Jose State Spartans football players Tennessee Titans players High school football coaches in California Santa Teresa High School alumni People from Scotts Valley, California Players of American football from San Jose, California