CM #4

Chase McLaughlin

Place Kicker · Illinois

A well-traveled kicker who bounced around nine NFL teams before finally settling in as Tampa Bay's steady leg.

Chase McLaughlin's path to NFL stability was anything but direct, with stops on nine different rosters before he found a home in Tampa Bay. Since taking over as the Buccaneers' full-time kicker in 2023, he has rewarded the team's patience with accuracy and a lucrative extension.

★ Three-year, $12.3 million contract extension with Tampa Bay (2024)

★ Bakken-Andersen Big Ten Kicker of the Year, first-team All-Big Ten (Illinois)

★ Career field-goal percentage near 85 percent entering 2026

Path to the league

McLaughlin walked on at Illinois and developed into a first-team All-Big Ten kicker as a senior, winning the Bakken-Andersen Big Ten Kicker of the Year award while leading the conference in field goals per game. He went undrafted in 2019 and signed with the Buffalo Bills before beginning a long journey through the league.

Career highlights

McLaughlin cycled through numerous NFL teams after going undrafted before landing with Tampa Bay in March 2023, where he won the starting job after the Buccaneers released Rodrigo Blankenship. He signed a three-year, $12.3 million extension with Tampa Bay in 2024, cementing his place as the team's kicker.

2025 season recap

McLaughlin continued as Tampa Bay's placekicker in 2025, and through the season he has made 158 of 186 career field-goal attempts (84.9 percent) and 207 of 212 career extra points, with 2025 marked as one of the best field-goal accuracy seasons of his career.