Tag: Ka’imi Fairbairn

2024 NFL free agency: Texans K Ka’imi Fairbairn contract details

After back-to-back seasons making 90% of his field goals, the Houston Texans made Ka’imi Fairbairn the league’s fourth highest-paid kicker

Details emerged regarding the new contract for Houston Texans kicker Houston Ka’imi Fairbairn.

The 30-year-old is now one of the highest-paid kickers in the league after he and the team agreed to a three-year extension worth $15.9 million, according to KPRC’s 2 Aaron Wilson.

Fairbairn becomes the league’s fourth-highest-paid kicker, with an average annual salary of $5.3 million. Only the Baltimore Ravens’ Justin Tucker, the Indianapolis Colts’ Matt Gay nd the New York Giants’ Graham Gano have a higher per-year price tag. 

The Hawaiian has the highest percentage of guaranteed money in his contract of any kicker at 69.6%, according to Over The Cap. Fairbairn’s contract includes the first two years guaranteed and a total guarantee of $11 million. 

Houston rewarded Fairbairn after he made 27 field goals in 28 attempts. He did not miss a field goal within 50 yards last season and has made nearly 95% of his kicks in the past two years.

Fairbairn has been the team’s kicker since 2017 and has scored 731 points in his career with a percentage of 87.1. His career long is 61 yards, which he set in 2021. He signed with the Texans as an undrafted free agent out of UCLA in 2016.

On kickoffs, he posted the second-highest touchback rate of his career, at 63.8%. Fairbairn is only 30 years old, and if he can stay healthy, he could sign another contract or two. 

He spent 2016 on injured reserve, and an injured calf forced him out of a Week 9 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This led to third-string running back Dare Ogunbowale entering as the emergency kicker. Fairbairn missed the next five weeks.

Houston’s offense emerged as one of the league’s most explosive last season, and the threat of Fairbairn’s big leg only adds to the dynamic element. Fairbairn has made 11 of his 12 attempts from 50-plus yards in the past two seasons. 

Texans agree to 3-year, $15.9M extension with Ka’imi Fairbairn

The Houston Texans kept kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn on a new contract.

Ka’imi Fairbairn will remain the Houston Texans’ kicker.

The two sides agreed to a three-year, $15.9 million contract extension, according to multiple reports, to keep Fairbairn in Houston. His $5.3 million average annual salary ranks fourth among kickers, and his total contract value ranks 12th.

Fairbairn, 30, has been the Texans kicker since 2017. He converted 27-of-28 field goal attempts in 2023 but missed five games with a quad injury late in the year. Fairbairn returned strong, though, and hit all nine of his regular-season kicks to end the season. He went 2-for-3 in the playoffs.

His career field goal conversion rate of 87.1% ranks third among all kickers with at least 100 games of experience since 2017, and his 94.9% field goal conversation rate since 2020 ranks first among kickers who’ve played in at least 25 games.  Fairbairn also has an extra-point conversion rate of 92.4%.

Fairbairn is the second major free agent Houston retained this offseason after the Texans signed tight end Dalton Schultz to a three-year, $36 million deal on Tuesday. The Texans have an interest in keeping all of their top players from a year ago, according to KPRC 2’s Aaron Wilson, including running back Devin Singletary and defensive end Jonathan Greenard.

The free agency signing period officially begins on March 13, but the “legal tampering” period starts March 11.

4 under the radar free agents that fit the Lions well

Four free agents who fit the Lions needs, playing style and budget for the positions they play

The free agent period begins soon in the NFL. While it officially doesn’t fire up until mid-March, the NFL Scouting Combine typically marks when teams and agents really begin earnestly courting one another in free agency, too.

The Detroit Lions figure to be net spenders in free agency once again. That’s as much of a function of not being scheduled to lose any critical or high-priced free agents of their own, but also banking on GM Brad Holmes being a man of his word on adding more talent to the Lions.

In his year-ending press conference, Holmes talked about being smart in free agency. Being prudent in finding value in free agency will be an emphasis, and that means finding players who fit the Lions well but might not necessarily carry the league-wide demand or big-name appeal to drive the price tag up.

Holmes and the Lions have done a good job finding players like this, including OL Graham Glasgow (now a free agent himself), WR Kalif Raymond, RB David Montgomery, DL John Cominsky, LB Alex Anzalone and more.

Here are four names who could fit that value bill for the Lions and Holmes in the upcoming free agent period in 2024.

Case Keenum, Ka’imi Fairbairn played hero in Texans’ OT win vs. Titans

Case Keenum and Ka’imi Fairbairn played integral roles in the Texans’ OT win vs. Titans.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – – After practice during Texans training camp and the first few games of the season, when the media was allowed into the locker room, there were always two players in a fierce competition at the ping pong table.

Back and forth, the ball went across the table as each player continuously tried to gain an advantage over the other, maneuvering about their space, hoping to find that angle that would give them the point.

Often, the other players would gather around to watch the epic one-on-one matchup between quarterback Case Keenum and kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn, who rank first and second on the player rankings on the unofficial ping pong chart.

On Sunday, the two were involved in a different battle on the field to see which would be hailed as the hero of the 19-16 overtime victory over divisional rival Tennessee Titans.

Keenum made his first start in over two years and had to shake the rust off of a bad first half where he put the Texans in a challenging situation by throwing a pick-six to Titans defensive back Elijah Molden in the second quarter that gave Tennessee a 13-point advantage over Houston. With the defense playing lights out, Keenum gained his composure in the second half, leading the offense on a late 10-play, 79-yard drive that ended in a three-yard touchdown pass to Noah Brown to tie the game at 16.

“I’m built for this,” said Keenum, who finished the game with 229 yards passing, one touchdown and one interception. “I’ve been in a lot of situations. I’ve been in a lot of systems, been in a lot of different games. And God’s made me who I am for this, for moments like this. And just trying to make sure that I’m ready when my number’s called. I said it before, you don’t have to get ready if you stay ready.”

The savvy 12-year NFL veteran was not done with his second-half heroics. With 1:43 seconds left in overtime, he scrambled away from pressure to find running back Devin Singletary all alone, which resulted in a 41-yard gain to put the Texans into field goal position with a chance to win the game.

Insert Fairbairn, playing in his second consecutive game after dealing with a quadriceps injury that caused him to miss over a month’s worth of action. He had already made three field goals on the day, including his longest of the season of 53 yards to keep the Texans close to the Titans on the scoreboard, but Houston would need him one more time to keep their playoff hopes alive.

With a perfect snap and hold, the eight-year veteran, who is over 70 percent in his career on field goals from 50 yards and farther, split the uprights from 54 yards out to give his team the walk-off win on the same day the Titans were wearing the Houston Oilers throwback uniforms.

“I think part of being in my position as a kicker, you’ve got to welcome those situations and those pressure kicks and not resist them, and just execute when you need to,” said Fairbairn. “I mean, you build that confidence a lot of time throughout the season.”

When asked about the performance of Keenum, Fairbairn couldn’t help but bring his grueling battles with the former University of Houston product in the locker room on the ping-pong table.

“I love Case,” Fairbairn said with a smile. “We have some epic ping-pong battles, so to see him on the football field, it was fun to watch.”

Head coach DeMeco Ryans awarded Fairbairn the game ball, but he will have to work a little harder to gain that No.1 position on the ping-pong rankings from Keenum.

Ka’imi Fairbairn drills 54-yard field goal to give Texans OT victory

The Texans rallied to defeat the Titans in an AFC South game that went to OT

The Houston Texans were without C.J. Stroud. They fell behind the Tennessee Titans by double digits on Sunday.

And they found a way to win in overtime, 19-16, on Ka’imi Fairbairn’s 54-yard field goal.

Fairbairn was 4-of-4 on field-goal attempts as Houston improved to 8-6 in DeMeco Ryans’ first year as coach.

Case Keenum threw for 229 yards in place of the heralded rookie.

Devin Singletary accounted for 170 yards on 30 touches in the win.

Texans place CB Tavierre Thomas on injured reserve

The Houston Texans have placed CB Tavierre Thomas on injured reserve for Week 15.

The Houston Texans’ secondary continues to take attrition.

The Texans placed cornerback Tavierre Thomas on injured reserve Saturday as the team makes preparations for Week 15 against the Tennessee Titans Sunday at 12:00 p.m. at Nissan Stadium.

The 27-year-old from Ferris State generated 51 combined tackles with two tackles for loss along with two forced fumbles and a pass breakup through nine games, five of which he started.

Houston also declared receiver Steven Sims and linebacker Garret Wallow as their standard elevations from the practice squad.

The Texans also activated kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn from injured reserve, ensuring the former Lou Groza Award winner will be able to go against the Titans.

[lawrence-auto-related count=1 category=1416]

Texans OC Bobby Slowik explains how Ka’imi Fairbairn injury changed play-calling

Ka’imi Fairbairn’s injury in Week 9 had a slight effect on play-calling, according to Houston Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik.

The Houston Texans were put in a unique position to start the second half against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 9 at NRG Stadium.

Trailing 17-10, the Texans would have to mount a comeback without kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn, who injured his quad. The Texans had running back Dare Ogunbowale take over the kickoff duties, but trusted him with just a 29-yard field goal out of desperation to take a skinny 33-30 lead early in the fourth quarter.

According to offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, the Texans’ play-calling felt some effects from the Fairbairn injury.

“I would say the only thing it really changed was third-down going into fourth-down,” Slowik told reporters Nov. 9. “First, second-down, it didn’t adjust much. We were confident in what we were doing, and we were going to keep doing it. The only difference really becomes when you get into like high-red areas — normal field-goal areas — you knew rather than punt, we were going to be aggressive on fourth.”

There was an instance where a conservative third down play-call was acceptable due to the Texans’ willingness to go for it on fourth down, as exemplified by Houston’s sequence with 14:20 to go in the game facing goal-to-go on the 9-yard line.

“It happened once in the red-zone where we had a third-down call that we knew we could take a pretty aggressive in the end zone because we felt confident about our fourth-down call as well,” Slowik said. “That really was about the only time it came up as far as changing what were doing.”

Stroud hit tight end Dalton Schultz for a 9-yard touchdown to give Houston a 30-23 lead.

Regarding two-point conversions, Slowik indicated they immediately became options.

Said Slowik: “We had already gone into the game — we were already prepped with two-point plays, two-point thoughts — not necessarily three of them — but that’s always something we talked about.”

The Texans signed kicker Matt Ammendola to the practice squad earlier this week.

[lawrence-auto-related count=1 category=1416]

Texans kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn’s injury forced backup RB Dare Ogunbowale to kick and he wasn’t terrible

For an emergency kicker, he wasn’t bad at all!

Most NFL teams don’t roster two kickers. With depth needed at positions that see more time on the field, it just doesn’t make sense to carry two full-time kickers. So, if someone gets injured, the task of kicking often falls to a position player who has shown they have some leg.

This is precisely what happened to the Houston Texans and backup running back Dare Ogunbowale on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After starting kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn suffered a game-ending quad injury, Houston had to turn to Ogunbowale for a kickoff in an emergency.

With all things considered, as someone who doesn’t usually kick the ball for a living, Ogunbowale did pretty great!

How the Texans plan to approach field goals, which require more accuracy, remains to be seen. But if they need to lean on Ogunbowale now and in the near future for occasional emergency kicks, they seem to be in good hands.

UPDATE: The Texans had Ogunbowale kick the go-ahead field goal halfway through the fourth quarter. Wow.

WATCH: Texans RB Dare Ogunbowale kicks off against the Buccaneers

Running back Dare Ogunbowale had to handle kickoff duties for the Houston Texans in Week 9 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Houston Texans had to get creative.

Kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn injured his quad against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday in Week 9 at NRG Stadium. The former Lou Groza Award winner left the game at halftime with the Texans trailing 17-10.

The Texans went with Ogunbowale, who just happened to be activated for Week 9 due to an injury to starting running back Dameon Pierce. If not for the injury to Pierce, the Texans may not have had a reason to activate Ogunbowale, who has consistently been a healthy scratch in 2023.

The last time Fairbairn was hurt in a game was in the 2021 preseason finale incidentally against the Buccaneers at NRG Stadium. Safety Justin Reid handled the kicking duties.

[lawrence-auto-related count=1 category=601914802]

Texans kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn out with quad injury

Houston Texans kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn has been ruled out against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 9 with a quad injury.

The Houston Texans will have to finish the game without Ka’imi Fairbairn.

The kicker was ruled out with a quad injury at halftime of the Week 9 encounter with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday at NRG Stadium.

Houston has been using running back Dare Ogunbowale for kickoffs. Houston has yet to attempt an extra point or field goal.

Fairbairn earned praise from special teams coordinator Frank Ross earlier in the week.

“As far as when he is actually kicking the football, he’s doing a great job and hopefully continues to do just that,” said Ross.

[lawrence-auto-related count=1 category=1362]