Ryan Fitzgerald may be the Panthers’ lone kicker on the roster, but he’s not treating anything like a done deal.
Carolina has no kicking competition this year, and Fitzgerald - who won the job last season and turned in a clutch, steady rookie campaign - is set to open Week 1 as the starter. Still, on Monday at the practice fields outside Bank of America Stadium, he worked like a player who had plenty to prove.
His live session was clean from distance: attempts from 33, 41, 48, 53 and 58 yards all looked true, and they were even on the “skinny posts,” which take up about half the width of the regular goalposts. While the rest of the team went through 11-on-11 work, Fitzgerald kept ripping kicks and checking the iPad filming him, making sure the mechanics stayed right and that any adjustment could happen fast.
That approach fits the way he talks about the job. Fitzgerald said the absence of another kicker doesn’t change the mindset.
“Obviously you’re still competing against yourself regardless if there’s somebody out there or not,” Fitzgerald told The Charlotte Observer. “There’s a guy who’s always on standby.
There are always guys out there, and there always will be, regardless of how you’re doing. There’s always competition.
But it’s obviously just me vs. me every day, still trying to get better, and keep improving and keep helping the team.”
He added: “The pressure is obviously still there. There are still nerves.
That’s normal, it’s a good thing. It makes me more prepared for the game.
Every kick, it still has just as much importance if not more than the last year.”
The Panthers clearly wanted something specific from him this offseason: more strength. Head coach Dave Canales said that was the challenge special teams coordinator Tracy Smith put in front of Fitzgerald after the spring.
“It goes back to the spring and Ryan’s goals coming out of it,” Canales said Monday. “Tracy gave him the challenge, ‘Time to get stronger.’
He took that challenge. He got stronger.
He focused on a lot of plyometric explosive type of movements. And put on some good weight, some good muscle.
So you can see the ball jumping off his foot a bit different than last year.”
For a kicker who just turned 26, there wasn’t much room to improve after his rookie season. Fitzgerald went 24-of-29 overall, a success rate of 82.8% that ranked 20th among kickers with at least 29 attempts in 2025. He missed only two field goals from inside 50 yards.
He was at his best when the game tightened up. In games decided by seven points or fewer, Fitzgerald made 20 of 21 extra points and 17 of 18 field goals, according to Pro Football Reference.
He also nailed four game-winning field goals, tying for the league lead and matching the rookie record set by Dan Bailey of the Dallas Cowboys in 2011. Since 2000, only seven rookies have made as many as three game-winners in a season.
Special teams coordinator Tracy Smith said earlier this month that the Panthers are “seeing a different player in some ways, just by having a whole season behind him.”
“Mentally it’s completely different,” Smith said. “Kickers always have competition.
Competition just comes from external players, that kind of thing. He’s competing with himself every day. ...
I think he’s handled it well, he’s been maturing, no issues at all.”
Fitzgerald’s personality matches his kicking routine: direct, unflashy, no wasted motion. Asked about his clutch rookie year, he kept it simple: “I just gotta keep doing that, and make some more leading up to it.”
Asked about the 61-yarder he drilled at the end of the first half of Friday night’s preseason game against Jacksonville, he said: “Just treat it like a normal kick, hit a good ball, and it was enough to go in.”
He was more willing to talk about the people around him, including long snapper JJ Jansen and punter/holder Sam Martin. He also mentioned that he got engaged this summer to his longtime girlfriend and that he got a puppy named Wylie, after Lake Wylie.
Kickoffs are another area where he’s made an impression. Patriots coach Mike Vrabel called Fitzgerald’s kickoffs “dirty kicks” - the kind that keep returners guessing whether the ball will land near the front of the landing zone, in the corners or somewhere else entirely.
Even with no formal battle for the job, Fitzgerald keeps circling back to the same point: production decides everything.
“You just gotta keep doing your job to the highest level. This is a performance industry. You gotta perform at a high level or they’ll bring somebody else in who is doing a better job.
“You can’t look at it like that, obviously. I am focused on me every day and getting better, but that’s the reality of the situation.”
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