Chase McLaughlin has already done enough in Tampa Bay to make the Bucs’ kicking job look solved. Now the question is whether he can keep pushing his own standard even higher in 2026.
That’s the strange thing about a kicker who’s been this good: a season that would look strong for almost anyone else can still read as a step back. McLaughlin heads into his fourth year with the Bucs as the most accurate kicker in franchise history, sitting at 90.1% on field goals. That mark tops Ryan Succop’s 84.8% by more than five percentage points, and it’s the kind of number that puts McLaughlin in rare company already.
He earned that reputation fast. In 2023, he won the job and replaced Succop after Succop had steadied the position and helped the Bucs during the Super Bowl LV run in the 2020-2021 season.
McLaughlin’s first year in Tampa Bay was a clean one: 29-of-31 on field goals, a 93.5% clip, and 7-of-8 from 50 yards and beyond. That gave the Bucs a long-range threat they hadn’t really had with Succop, especially in 2022.
He backed it up in 2024, too. McLaughlin hit 30 of 32 field goals for a 93.8% success rate and went 8-of-10 from 50-plus.
That’s why 2025 stands out a little differently. He was still reliable overall, but the numbers dipped.
McLaughlin finished 32-of-38 on field goals for an 84.2% mark, with four misses coming in Weeks 1-6 and two more in Weeks 17 and 18.
Even so, there was plenty to like in the middle of the season. From Weeks 7-16, he didn’t miss.
He also went 11-of-12 from 50-plus, and he drilled a 65-yard field goal in Week 4 to set a new franchise record. The challenge in 2026 is simple: avoid the cold stretches and keep the distance game sharp.
If he does that, he gets right back to the elite level he showed in 2023 and 2024.
There’s also a bigger-picture reason this season matters. McLaughlin is climbing the Bucs’ record books at a fast clip, and 2026 could put him near the top of several major lists.
He needs four more field goals to pass Donald Igwebuike (94) for fifth in franchise history, eight to move ahead of Matt Bryant (98) for fourth, 24 to pass Connor Barth (114) for third, and 27 to get by Michael Husted (117) for second. Only Martin Gramatica’s 137 would remain ahead of him.
The scoring list is moving in his direction, too. McLaughlin is 25 points shy of passing Igwebuike and Bryant (416) for sixth, 41 from moving past Mike Alstott (432) for fifth, 86 away from Barth (477) for fourth, and 111 from Husted (502) for third.
If he keeps producing at the pace he’s maintained over the last three seasons - roughly 30 field goals and 131 points a year - he’d finish 2026 second in franchise history in field goals and third in scoring. Add a new contract beyond this year, and the door opens a little wider.
He could get within striking distance of Gramatica’s field goal record and even move past him for second on the all-time scoring list. The one mountain that still looks steep is Mike Evans, who leads the franchise with 662 points.
That contract piece matters, because McLaughlin is in a contract year. The Bucs have plenty of other decisions to sort through between now and March, with Baker Mayfield, Vita Vea and Yaya Diaby drawing much of the attention.
But McLaughlin belongs in that conversation, too. He originally signed a one-year deal for $1.13 million in 2023, then landed a three-year, $12.3 million contract after that season.
An early extension could have been on the table before Brandon Aubrey’s four-year, $28 million deal with the Cowboys reset the kicker market earlier this offseason. Now Tampa Bay may be better off letting the year play out. Either way, if McLaughlin keeps performing the way he has from 2023 through 2025, a third contract should be the expectation, not the exception.
The Bucs know how hard it is to find stability at kicker. They lived through that for much of the 2010s, then found Ryan Succop in 2020 and McLaughlin in 2023. McLaughlin just turned 30 in April, and if he keeps delivering the way Tampa Bay expects, there’s no reason to think the Bucs will want to let him go anytime soon.
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