Cade
York.
Cade
York.
LSU· 6'1"· 206 lb
"Fifteen makes from 50 and beyond, a fog-bound 57-yarder to beat Florida, and a stubborn 11-of-17 hole from 40 to 49 that asked whether the biggest leg in the class was also the most reliable."Pre-draft read
York was drafted for one reason: leg strength that changed a coordinator's math. He hit 15 of 19 from 50 and beyond in three LSU seasons, with a career long of 57 in swirling fog at Florida to win the game, and he regularly cleared 60 in pregame warmups. Kickoffs were a weapon too, with touchbacks arriving as a default rather than an achievement.
The swing was compact and repeatable, with a quick approach and a low, driving ball flight that held its line into wind. What he never fully solved was the middle range. He was perfect from inside 30 across his career but finished 11 of 17 from 40 to 49, an odd inversion for a kicker whose deep accuracy was the selling point. The signature was range; the question mark was the routine kick.
A team willing to attempt field goals from 55 and out, ideally in a cold or windy stadium where a flat, driving ball and touchback-level kickoffs carry real value.
Year 1: starting placekicker whose range extends the field goal window past 55. Ceiling: a decade-long starter on a team that plays outdoors in bad weather.
A dome team that only asks for 35-yard kicks, where mid-range reliability is the entire job description and the deep leg never gets used.
Cade York Nails Kick To Give LSU Late Lead, LSU vs Florida 2020
The 57-yard game-winner in fog at Gainesville, the single kick that built his draft grade.
60-yard field goal by Cade York during SEC Championship warmups
Warmup evidence of the leg strength that made him the first specialist drafted.
Where Cade York's 58-Yard Field Goal Stands in the Browns Record Books
The Week 1 rookie game-winner in Carolina, the high point of his NFL career.
York was the consensus best kicker in the 2022 class and the first specialist off the board. He won the starting job at LSU as a true freshman on a national championship team, made second-team All-SEC as a freshman, first-team plus second-team All-American as a sophomore, and second-team All-SEC again as a junior before declaring.
His career line was 54 of 66 on field goals and 164 of 168 on extra points for 326 points, and the deep work carried the evaluation: 15 of 19 from 50 or longer, including the 57-yarder in December fog that beat Florida in Gainesville. He was a Lou Groza semifinalist and had performed under real stakes in the hardest kicking environments in the country, which is the closest a college kicker gets to an NFL audition.
The concern was the range nobody talks about. Eleven of 17 from 40 to 49 is a mediocre number for a kicker whose pitch is precision at distance, and evaluators debated whether the big leg was worth a Day 3 pick when undrafted kickers hit at a similar rate. Cleveland believed it was. They spent 124 on him, the only specialist taken before the final round.
- 01
Elite range
Fifteen makes from 50 or longer on 19 attempts, plus regular 60-yard warmup kicks, gave a coordinator field position value nobody else in the class offered.
- 02
Big-moment record
The fog-bound 57-yard game-winner at Florida in 2020 was the signature, and he kicked in championship environments from his freshman year on.
- 03
Short-range perfection
He never missed inside 30 yards in three seasons, converting all 16 of those attempts and 164 of 168 extra points.
- 04
Kickoff value
Touchbacks were routine rather than situational, adding hidden yardage on top of the field goal ledger.
- 05
Repeatable mechanics
A compact approach and a low, driving trajectory that cut through wind, developed and stable across three full seasons as the starter.
- 01
Mid-range inconsistency
Eleven of 17 from 40 to 49 yards is a soft number for a kicker whose value proposition was accuracy at distance.
- 02
Positional value
A fourth-round pick on a specialist is a premium price when the undrafted market produces comparable hit rates at no cost.
- 03
Trajectory concerns
The flat ball flight that helps in wind gets blocked more often and leaves less margin against interior push.
- 04
No pressure sample beyond college
The stakes he had handled were SEC stakes, and kickers who arrive with big legs often find that NFL consistency, not distance, decides jobs.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
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- Vertical
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- Broad jump
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- Three-cone
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- Shuttle
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- Bench
- 12repp50
| Yr | Team | G | FGM | FGA | FG% | XPM | XPA | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | LSU | 15 | 21 | 27 | — | 89 | 93 | 152 |
| 2020 | LSU | 10 | 18 | 21 | — | 36 | 36 | 90 |
| 2021 | LSU | 12 | 15 | 18 | — | 39 | 39 | 84 |
| Career | — | 37 | 54 | 66 | — | 164 | 168 | 326 |
The 2020 and 2021 scoring lines are verified on cfbstats (LSU team 365, player 1104006), which publishes makes and points but not attempts for kickers: 18 field goals and 36 extra points in ten games in 2020, 15 and 39 in twelve games in 2021. Attempt totals for all three seasons come from the published season splits and match the career line exactly: 37 games, 54 of 66 on field goals, 164 of 168 on extra points, 326 points, career long 57.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Decorated college kicker drafted early who never recovers from a shaky rookie year.
Huge leg that turns into a genuine weapon once the accuracy stabilizes across all ranges.
Bounces between rosters on leg strength alone without ever locking down a job.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
He looked like a hit for one month. York opened 2022 with a 58-yard game-winner in Carolina that immediately validated the pick, then faded: 24 of 32 on the season, 75 percent, with misses piling up in the second half of the year. Cleveland cut him in training camp the following August. He spent 2023 moving between Tennessee and the Giants without a field goal attempt on record, then 2024 brought a one-game stint in Washington where he missed both tries and a five-game run in Cincinnati where he hit nine of 11, including a 59-yarder. New Orleans and the Jets have since carried him on practice squads. His NFL career sits at 33 of 45, 73.3 percent.
In hindsight the numbers the league undervalued were the ones that mattered. The 40-to-49 problem at LSU did not go away; it became the whole story, because that is the range where NFL kickers are judged. The leg was every bit as real as advertised and never made him reliable, which is the recurring lesson of drafting specialists early. Cleveland paid a fourth-round pick for a rookie season at 75 percent and a roster spot they filled again within a year.