 Longwell with theGreen Bay Packers in 2004 | |||||||||||||
| California Golden Bears | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title | Senior analyst | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born | (1974-08-16)August 16, 1974 (age 51) Seattle, Washington, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 200 lb (91 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| High school | Bend Senior (Bend, Oregon) | ||||||||||||
| College | California (1993–1996) | ||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 1997: undrafted | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
Playing | |||||||||||||
* Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||||||||||||
Coaching | |||||||||||||
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| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||
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Ryan Walker Longwell (born August 16, 1974[1]) is an American former professionalfootball player who was aplacekicker in theNational Football League (NFL). After playingcollege football for theCalifornia Golden Bears, he started hisprofessional career with theSan Francisco 49ers, but never played a game for the franchise. He then played for theGreen Bay Packers from 1997 to 2005. He played for theMinnesota Vikings from 2006 to 2011. He also played briefly for theSeattle Seahawks during the 2012 playoffs.
Longwell attended high school inBend, Oregon, where he played high school football forBend High School's Lava Bears.[1] A three-year letter winner in football as a kicker, Longwell also was the team's backupquarterback.[1] He also playedbaseball as athird baseman, earning threeletters in that sport.[1] He earned all-conference honors in both sports.[1]
In 1993, he started college at theUniversity of California, Berkeley where he playedfootball and earned fourvarsity letters.[1] At California he served as both apunter and placekicker for the team, earning all-conference honors in thePac-10 his senior year as a punter and second team honors as a kicker.[1] Longwell graduated with aBachelor of Arts degree in English.[1]
Longwell was acquired by the Green Bay Packers off waivers from the San Francisco 49ers in1997. With the Packers, Longwell played inSuper Bowl XXXII, where he kicked onefield goal and threeextra points in their 31–24 loss to theDenver Broncos. He spent his first 9 seasons playing for the Packers, and scored over 120 points during 6 of those seasons. By the end of his 7th season in Green Bay, Longwell had passed Hall of Famer Don Hutson to become the Packers all-time leading scorer. And whileMason Crosby has since passed him, Longwell remains second on Green Bay's all-time scoring list.
Longwell signed afree agent contract with the Vikings in the2006 offseason. In his second game with theMinnesota Vikings, Longwell had one of the best performances of his career. He was responsible for all 16 of the Vikings points in a 16–13 win over theCarolina Panthers, kicking three field goals (including the game-winning field goal inovertime) and throwing a 16-yardtouchdownpass on a fake field goal play in the fourth quarter. In the 2008 season finale against theNew York Giants, he kicked a 50-yard field goal as time expired to help the Vikings clinch the division in a 20–19 victory.
During the 2010 offseason, Longwell, a close friend ofBrett Favre, became a sort of unofficial spokesman for Favre, as the media frequently questioned him on whether Favre would return to the Vikings or retire. When Longwell picked Favre up at the airport in Minnesota on August 17, 2010, TV station helicopters followed Longwell's SUV all the way to Vikings headquarters.[2] In 2018, he was inducted into theGreen Bay Packers Hall of Fame.[3]
On January 8, 2013, Longwell was signed by theSeattle Seahawks afterSteven Hauschka suffered a calf injury.[4] He kicked four extra points (with no field goal attempts) in the Divisional Round loss to Atlanta. On August 12, 2013, theGreen Bay Packers announced that Longwell would retire as a Packer.[5]
Career high/bestbolded
| Regular season statistics | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team (record) | G | FGM | FGA | % | <20 | 20-29 | 30-39 | 40-49 | 50+ | LNG | BLK | XPM | XPA | % | PTS |
| 1997 | GB (13–3) | 16 | 24 | 30 | 80.0 | 4–4 | 7–8 | 10–13 | 2–4 | 1–1 | 50 | 2 | 48 | 48 | 100.0 | 120 |
| 1998 | GB (11–5) | 16 | 29 | 33 | 87.9 | 1–1 | 6–6 | 13–15 | 9–10 | 0–1 | 45 | 0 | 41 | 43 | 95.3 | 128 |
| 1999 | GB (8–8) | 16 | 25 | 30 | 83.3 | 0–0 | 8–9 | 8–9 | 8–10 | 1–2 | 50 | 3 | 38 | 38 | 100.0 | 113 |
| 2000 | GB (9–7) | 16 | 33 | 38 | 86.8 | 0–0 | 7–8 | 10–10 | 13–15 | 3–5 | 52 | 1 | 32 | 32 | 100.0 | 131 |
| 2001 | GB (9–7) | 16 | 20 | 31 | 64.5 | 0–0 | 3–4 | 9–10 | 7–14 | 1–3 | 54 | 2 | 44 | 45 | 97.8 | 104 |
| 2002 | GB (12–4) | 16 | 28 | 34 | 82.4 | 1–1 | 8–9 | 12–13 | 7–10 | 0–1 | 49 | 1 | 44 | 44 | 100.0 | 128 |
| 2003 | GB (10–6) | 16 | 23 | 26 | 88.5 | 0–0 | 5–5 | 11–11 | 6–9 | 1–1 | 50 | 0 | 51 | 51 | 100.0 | 120 |
| 2004 | GB (10–6) | 16 | 24 | 28 | 85.7 | 0–0 | 8–8 | 8–9 | 6–8 | 2–3 | 53 | 0 | 48 | 48 | 100.0 | 120 |
| 2005 | GB (4–12) | 16 | 20 | 27 | 74.1 | 0–0 | 7–7 | 6–10 | 3–5 | 4–5 | 53 | 1 | 30 | 31 | 96.8 | 90 |
| 2006 | MIN (6–10) | 16 | 21 | 25 | 84.0 | 2–2 | 7–7 | 8–8 | 4–6 | 0–2 | 49 | 2 | 27 | 28 | 96.4 | 90 |
| 2007 | MIN (8–8) | 16 | 20 | 24 | 83.3 | 0–0 | 3–3 | 6–6 | 10–11 | 1–4 | 55 | 1 | 39 | 40 | 96.9 | 99 |
| 2008 | MIN (10–6) | 16 | 29 | 34 | 85.3 | 0–0 | 10–10 | 7–9 | 6–9 | 6–6 | 54 | 2 | 40 | 40 | 100.0 | 127 |
| 2009 | MIN (12–4) | 16 | 26 | 28 | 92.9 | 1–1 | 10–10 | 5–6 | 8–9 | 2–2 | 52 | 2 | 54 | 55 | 98.2 | 132 |
| 2010 | MIN (6–10) | 16 | 17 | 18 | 94.4 | 0–0 | 7–7 | 8–9 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 48 | 1 | 30 | 31 | 96.8 | 81 |
| 2011 | MIN (3–13) | 16 | 22 | 28 | 78.6 | 0–0 | 7–7 | 7–8 | 6–10 | 2–3 | 53 | 1 | 38 | 39 | 97.4 | 104 |
| Career (15 seasons) | 240 | 361 | 434 | 83.2 | 9–9 | 103–108 | 128–146 | 97–132 | 24–39 | 55 | 19 | 604 | 613 | 98.5 | 1687 | |
Longwell is the cousin of 1992 and 1996Olympic athleteMichael Orr.[1] He is married to Sarah Longwell, and they have two children, Shaye and Reece. Shaye played college tennis at LSU and Reece graduated from Georgia Tech.
In 2023, Longwell joined hisalma mater,California, under head coachJustin Wilcox as a senior analyst.[6]