Can You Kick a Field Goal Without a Holder?

Rule 3, Section 17 defines the kicks.

Rule 11 says a field goal is scored only with one of these two kicks, made from on or behind the line of scrimmage or from the spot of a fair catch. A punt does not qualify, as the page about punts and field goals explains.

The tee is defined in Rule 3 as an approved device used to elevate the ball for a place kick during any free kick. The place kick definition says that, if it is a free kick, it is permissible to use an approved manufactured tee. A fair catch kick, which is a drop kick or place kick from the spot of a fair catch, is made without a tee.

That leaves a field goal from scrimmage with no tee in the text. In such a kick the ball is in a fixed position because a teammate holds it, or the kicker drops it, as in a drop kick. The page does not go beyond the text, since the rulebook does not describe a scrimmage place kick with the ball on the ground and no holder.

The holder is part of several formations in the rulebook. The field goal and Try kick formation is defined as a formation with a potential holder and a potential kicker seven or more yards behind the neutral zone. In the rules on substitutions and players, a designated holder for a kickoff may be a twelfth person on the field, as a non-player, who must leave the field on his team's sideline with the kicking tee immediately after the ball is kicked.

The holder is also covered by the conduct rules: a punter, placekicker or holder who simulates being roughed or run into by a defensive player commits unsportsmanlike conduct.

The holder matters because of what the rulebook counts as a kick. Rule 3 says a kick is intentionally striking the ball with the knee, lower leg or foot. A drop kick is a kick by a player who drops the ball and kicks it as, or immediately after, it touches the ground, and a punt is a kick made by a player who drops the ball and kicks it before it strikes the ground. A place kick is made while the ball is in a fixed position on the ground, and the text adds that the ball may be held in position by a teammate. The holder is that teammate.

The kicker is the player of the kicking team who legally drop kicks, place kicks or punts the ball, and the kicking team is identified as the kickers during a down in which there is a scrimmage kick, free kick or fair catch kick. The receiving team is identified for the whole down. The rulebook gives these definitions without saying how a team must arrange the kick, so this page reports the definitions and does not add rules the text does not contain.

The wording comes from Rules 3, 5 and 11 of the official NFL playing rules, 2026 edition. The page quotes the rulebook and does not describe how teams practice or choose their kicks.

The rules are reviewed each year. This page was checked against the 2026 edition. More football pages are collected on the NFL hub, and the page about blocked field goals covers what happens when a kick is stopped.