Vinatieri on Anderson’s HOF induction: ‘Maybe this opens the door’ for kickers

Adam Vinatieri has spent 21 seasons as a kicker in the National Football League, the last 11 with the Indianapolis Colts.

In that time, he has established himself as one of the NFL’s very best that the position has ever seen.

‘There’s other great kickers out there, too’

Is induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his future? The chances seemed to improve earlier this month when one of Vinatieri’s all-time favorite kickers, Morten Andersen, was chosen to be part of the Hall’s Class of 2017. He and Jan Stenerud are the only kickers to make it to Canton.

“There’s other great kickers out there, too, that have done a lot of good things and maybe this opens the door a little bit for other people to understand the importance of a good kicker and what it means to your team and how it can make a difference in the outcome of seasons and careers and all kinds of different stuff,” Vinatieri told Alex Marvez and Bill Polian on Late Hits.

‘Morten rewrote the book with everything he’s done’

“It’s a long time coming, for sure. To be honest with you, I would have liked to seen him go in a long time ago. I feel like Jan Stenerud, obviously, was the pioneer for soccer-style kicking, but Morten rewrote the book with everything that he had done. You play at the top elite level for 25 years in the National Football League. You’re the all-time leading scorer in the National Football League. There’s so many things that he did.

“As a young boy growing up, he was my hero. I watched him play for many years before I entered the league and I still had the privilege of playing with him for 10 years or whatever it was before he finally retired. So I was happy for him. I think I was one of his biggest supporters.”