From rugby-style structures in the 1920s to today’s iconic bright-yellow “slingshot” design, the NFL’s goalposts have evolved over the decades. The last major change came in 1974, when the league moved the uprights back to the end line to encourage more touchdowns instead of field goals. It worked, as field goal attempts dropped from 861 in 1973 to 553 the following season.
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After all these changes, that ’70s goalpost design has stayed the same. In both the NFL and NCAA, the uprights are 18 feet 6 inches apart, perched above a 10-foot crossbar. But this is where the debate begins.
So, a fan recently offered a “hot take” to ESPN personality and House of Highlights founder Omar Raja, suggesting the NFL should make field goal posts narrower.
Raja, who also specialises in defending internet hot takes, didn’t dismiss the idea. Instead, he amplified it in an Instagram reel, laying out why the proposal made sense.
“Right now, kicking is too easy. The uprights are 18 feet 6 inches apart. And modern kickers are so good that field goals feel automatic,” he explained.
The ESPN social media creator then backed his claim with numbers. “Last season, the league-wide accuracy was around 85%. That’s higher than the average NBA free-throw percentage… Think about that. Hitting a ball with your foot from 45 yards away is statistically easier than shooting a free throw in basketball,” he pointed out.
This level of reliability of field goals is as impressive as it is a problem. Because automatic kicking, as Raja argued, changes how teams approach games.
“It makes kicking feel safe. Teams play conservatively. They settle for three points and we lose out on more aggressive fourth-down calls,” he argued.
So what would narrower uprights change? According to Omar Raja, it would transform the risk-reward equation. “If you narrow the posts, even just a couple feet, kicking wouldn’t be a guarantee anymore,” he explained. “Suddenly, 40-yarders feel like real tests instead of routine. It would separate the good kickers from the great ones.”
The content creator even drew a parallel to another sport. “Just like moving the NBA three-point line in the ’90s exposed who could really shoot… tighter goalposts would show who the elite kickers are,” he said.
And for fans, Raja believes the entertainment value would skyrocket. “Every attempt would feel massive. Like a pressure-packed putt in golf,” he said. Even extra points, which the NFL tried to spice up by moving them back to the 15-yard line in 2015, would suddenly become must-watch moments, according to him.
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Talking about fans, they definitely seemed to appreciate a positive and more entertaining change to the game.
“It would def make the game more exciting,” said one. “Why is this actually a good proposition?” added another.
However, for some, namely 49ers and Browns fans who have seen their teams struggle with field goals, they came up with their own suggestions and jokes on the matter.
“I say make it wider [I’m a niner fan],” joked one. “If kicking a field goal is so easy then how come Dustin Hopkins makes it look so hard?” chimed in another.
Whether the league would ever take such a radical step is another question. But Raja’s argument takes us back to the fact that the NFL has never been afraid to reinvent itself when necessary. Be it moving the posts in the ’70s to reshaping overtime rules in the 2010s, the NFL has always balanced tradition with evolution.
