Player

Daniel Carlson

K · Raiders

Daniel Carlson: facts drawn from the play-by-play.

FanIQ Research · May 11, 2026 · 6 facts, every one from the play-by-play

40 FGM in 2021 — led the entire NFL and the most by any kicker in that season.

Milestone

2021 FGM leaders (regular season)

Kicker	FGM
Daniel Carlson	40
Chris Boswell	36
Nick Folk	36
Justin Tucker	35
Greg Joseph	33

In 2021, Carlson made 40 field goals — the NFL lead, and the most by any kicker in that season. The next-closest line (Boswell, Folk) was four behind. The All-Pro nod followed.

The volume was driven by a Raiders offense that stalled in scoring range repeatedly — Carlson went 40-of-43 (93.0%) in that year, including 6 makes from 50+ yards.

Three straight 90%+ seasons (2020-2022) — almost unheard-of for a kicker with this attempt volume.

Trend

Carlson by season (regular season)

Season	FGM	FGA	FG%	Long
2018	17	21	81.0%	50
2019	19	26	73.1%	48
2020	33	35	94.3%	54
2021	40	43	93.0%	56
2022	34	37	91.9%	57
2023	26	30	86.7%	54
2024	34	40	85.0%	54
2025	22	27	81.5%	60

After a rocky 2019 (73.1%, the year he kicked through his first full Raiders season), Carlson assembled three consecutive 90%+ seasons on 35+ FGA volume — a stretch most kickers never reach.

The arc tells the volatility story: he's been below 85% in 3 of his 8 seasons and above 91% in 3 others. Same kicker, big swings.

FG% per season

Season	FG%
2018	81
2019	73
2020	94
2021	93
2022	92
2023	87
2024	85
2025	82

Career under 50 he hits 95%. From 55+ his rate falls below 60%.

Split

Career FGs by distance (regular season)

Distance	FGM	FGA	FG%
0-39	134	138	97.1%
40-49	54	70	77.1%
50-54	28	35	80.0%
55-59	8	15	53.3%
60+	1	1	100.0%

Carlson's distance profile shows an interesting break: 97.1% from inside 40 (134-of-138), and surprisingly his 50-54 rate (80.0%) beats his 40-49 rate (77.1%). The 40-49 bucket includes a stretch of misses across 2018-19 that drags the career number down.

His only career 60+ attempt — a 60-yarder in 2025 — went through. The 55-59 bucket is the real weak spot: just 8-of-15 (53.3%).

FG% by distance

Distance	FG%
0-39	97
40-49	77
50-54	80
55-59	53
60+	100

11 made FGs from 50+ in 2022 — the season-high of his career, and the most by any AFC kicker that year.

Rare

Carlson 50+ yard FGs made by season

Season	50+ FGM
2018	3
2019	0
2020	4
2021	6
2022	11
2023	1
2024	7
2025	5

The deep-ball spike came in 2022: 11 made FGs from 50+ yards, on a Raiders team that often stalled outside the red zone. That's more than 2.5× his career average of about 4-5 per season from that range.

The deep ball has been streaky for him — 2019 was 0-for-deep, then 4, 6, 11. After the 2022 outlier, the 2023 number cratered to 1 (in an injury-shortened season).

4-of-4 in the 2021 playoff run — perfect in the Raiders' return to the postseason after 19 years.

Milestone

The 2021 Raiders were the team that ended a 19-year postseason drought for the Raiders franchise (last appearance: 2002). Carlson went 4-of-4 in the Wild Card loss — a clean line in the franchise's only playoff trip of his career to date.

His playoff resume is small (one trip, four kicks), but it remains perfect: 4 attempts, 4 makes, 0 misses.

225 career FGM through 8 seasons — 9th-most among kickers active in this window.

Comparison

FGM leaders since 2017 (top 10)

Kicker	FGM
Ka'imi Fairbairn	257
Justin Tucker	252
Harrison Butker	251
Chris Boswell	250
Jason Myers	247
Wil Lutz	229
Brandon McManus	229
Greg Zuerlein	226
Daniel Carlson	225
Jake Elliott	220

Across the 2017-2025 window, Carlson sits 9th in regular-season FGM (225) — about 30 behind the Fairbairn/Tucker/Butker/Boswell cluster at the top.

The gap is partly volume: Carlson was a rookie waiver-wire pickup in late 2018 (started his career with Minnesota, was cut, signed by Oakland mid-season). So he's effectively a 7.5-season tally vs. 9 for most of the leaders above him.

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