Rian David Lindell (born January 20, 1977) 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 ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

for 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 ...

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

and

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The cl ...

. He 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 ...

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a U.S. state, state in the Northwestern United States, Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first President of the United States, U.S. p ...

Early years

Lindell studied in Pacific Junior High School (now Pacific Middle School) in

Vancouver, Washington Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, located in Clark County. Incorporated in 1857, Vancouver has a population of 190,915 as of the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Was ...

, and was coached by Mike Daltoso. He later attended Mountain View High School, where he played as a

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Lik ...

and

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is p ...

in football, receiving All-league honors on special teams and defense as a senior. He also lettered in

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

, playing as a

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or dr ...

and receiving All-state honors as a

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system u ...

in his senior season.

College career

Lindell walked on at

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant uni ...

. He was named the starter as a sophomore, on a team that included

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Am ...

Ryan Leaf Ryan David Leaf (born May 15, 1976) is a former American football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for four seasons. He played for the San Diego Chargers and the Dallas Cowboys between 1998 and 2001, and also pl ...

, finishing with a school record 58 extra points scored, while making 12 out of 17 field goals. He also played in the

1998 Rose Bowl The 1998 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game, part of the 1997–98 college bowl season, played on January 1 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The 84th Rose Bowl Game, it featured top-ranked Michigan beating Washington State 21 ...

at the end of his sophomore season, losing to a

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

team that included future NFL players

Brian Griese Brian David Griese ( ; born March 18, 1975) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is the quarterbacks coach for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Denver Broncos in the th ...

Tom Brady Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. (born August 3, 1977) is an American football quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He spent his first 20 seasons with the New England Patriots organization, with which ...

(who was Griese's backup for the game) and

Charles Woodson Charles Cameron Woodson (born October 7, 1976) is a former American football defensive back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons with the Oakland Raiders and Green Bay Packers. He played college football at Michiga ...

. He became a three-year starter and finished fourth (206 points) on the school's career scoring list

Professional career

Dallas Cowboys

Lindell was signed as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who i ...

by the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

after the

2000 NFL Draft The 2000 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur U.S. college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 15– 16, 2000, at the Thea ...

. He lost the

job after competing with Tim Seder and was waived before the season started.

Seattle Seahawks

On September 26,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, he was signed by the

as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who i ...

. He started for three seasons and made 74.4% (58 of 78) of his field-goal attempts.

Buffalo Bills

On March 24,

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

, he was signed as a

restricted free agent A restricted free agent (RFA) is a type of free agent in the National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL), or National Basketball Association (NBA). Such players have special restrictions on the terms under which they can retain ...

by the

to replace

Mike Hollis Michael Shane Hollis (born May 22, 1972) is most recently an American football placekicker for the Jacksonville Sharks of the National Arena League. He formerly played in the National Football League from 1994-2003, leading the NFL in scoring (19 ...

, who was allowed to leave in free agency. The Seahawks decided not to match the offer and lost Lindell without receiving any compensation. He was generally regarded as having a stronger but slightly less accurate leg than Hollis. In the 2006 season, Lindell converted 23 out of 25

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, at 92%, tied for the league. On November 26, 2006, Lindell kicked the game-winning field goal against the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...

to complete Buffalo's upset over Jacksonville. On November 11, 2007, Lindell kicked a game-winning field goal to allow Buffalo to win 13-10 over 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 ...

. On Sunday, December 2, 2007, Lindell kicked a game-winning field goal against the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) ...

. Lindell was 5/5 in field goal attempts on that day. When kicking the game-winning field goal, Lindell was "iced" twice by Washington head coach

Joe Gibbs Joe Jackson Gibbs (born November 25, 1940) is an American auto racing team owner and former professional football coach. In football, he was head coach for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL) from 1981 to 1992, and ...

, which drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against Washington, making the field goal 15 yards shorter. In week 3 of the 2008 season, Lindell had a game-winning field goal on the final play of the game vs. the

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 ...

, which allowed Buffalo to move to 3-0. Later, in week 11 of the season, Lindell missed a 47-yard field goal with 38 seconds left. As a result, the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conferenc ...

ran the clock out to secure a 29-27 victory. On December 9, 2007, Rian Lindell set the record for the most consecutive field goals made in

history. He had played in all 64 games for the Bills since 2003 (until the middle of the 2011 season) and holds a Bills record with 83.04 field goal percentage. On November 29, 2009, Lindell successfully made a 56-yard field goal against rivals

. This was not only Lindell's longest field goal of his career but also tied Houston Texans' kicker

Kris Brown Kristopher Clayton Brown (born December 23, 1976) is a former American football placekicker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for twelve seasons in the late 1990s and 2000s. He played college football for the University of Nebr ...

for longest successful field goal in the league for the 2009 season, until

Sebastian Janikowski Sebastian Paweł Janikowski (; born March 2, 1978) is a Polish former American football placekicker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons, primarily with the Oakland Raiders. He played college football at Florida State ...

made a 61-yarder in week 17. On November 7, 2010, Lindell had an extra point blocked against the Chicago Bears, ending his streak at 321 successful extra points, an NFL record for most consecutive extra points to start a career. On September 25, 2011, Lindell booted two field goals against the Patriots, including a 28-yard game winner to give the Bills their first win in 15 games vs. the Patriots. On November 6, 2011, Lindell injured his shoulder while trying to trip up New York Jets running back

Joe McKnight Joseph Nathan McKnight Jr. (April 16, 1988 – December 1, 2016) was an American football running back and return specialist who played in the National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL). He attended the University of Sout ...

. He missed the remainder of the season. On February 7, 2012, the Bills announced that Lindell had agreed to a four-year contract for $10 million. On August 19, 2013, he was released after being passed on the depth chart sixth-round draft choice

Dustin Hopkins Dustin Hopkins (born October 1, 1990) is an American football placekicker for the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Florida State and was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the sixth round of ...

. He left as the most accurate field goal kicker (83.3%), second in franchise history in scoring (979) and broke team records by connecting on 18 straight field goals and 225 consecutive extra-point attempts.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

On August 20, 2013, Lindell signed as a

with the

to replace Connor Barth, who had suffered a torn Achilles tendon injury. He made 23 out of 29 field goals with a long one of 54 yards. He wasn't re-signed after the season.

Career regular season statistics

''Career high/best bolded''

Personal life

Lindell is married to his wife Johna. He is an avid fan of baseball’s

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

. He was a part of the

Alpha Kappa Lambda Alpha Kappa Lambda (), commonly known as AKL or Alpha Kapp, is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1914. Today, it operates approximately 30 active chapters and has approximately 28,000 l ...

fraternity in college. He is now a physical education teacher and a football coach at

Eastlake High School (Sammamish, Washington) Eastlake High School is a four-year public high school in Sammamish, Washington, a suburb east of Seattle. Opened in 1993, it is one of four traditional high schools in the Lake Washington School District, serving its eastern portion. Eastlake sh ...

References

External links

Washington State Cougars bioBuffalo Bills bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lindell, Rian 1977 births Living people Sportspeople from Vancouver, Washington Players of American football from Washington (state) Players of American football from Portland, Oregon American football placekickers Washington State Cougars football players Dallas Cowboys players Seattle Seahawks players Buffalo Bills players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players