Atlanta Falcons kicker Zane Gonzalez has been named NFC Special Teams Player of the Week, according to an announcement from the NFL on Wednesday.
Gonzalez earned this recognition following the Falcons’ Week 18 victory over the New Orleans Saints. This is his second time receiving the award, with both honors coming after wins against the Saints.
In last Sunday’s game, Gonzalez contributed four field goals and one extra point, accounting for 13 of Atlanta’s 19 points. His successful kicks were from distances of 51 yards, 40 yards, and twice from 38 yards.
This marks the sixth occasion in Gonzalez’s career where he has made four field goals in a single game. The most field goals he has attempted in a game is five, which occurred during his time with the Arizona Cardinals in 2019.
Gonzalez also managed kickoff duties for Atlanta during Sunday’s match. He averaged 58 yards per kickoff and achieved two touchbacks out of six attempts.
The Falcons signed Gonzalez on November 5 as their third kicker to join the active roster in 2025. Previous kickers Younghoe Koo and Parker Romo were released after inconsistent performances; Koo missed a potential game-tying field goal in Week 1 against Tampa Bay, while Romo missed a crucial extra point in Week 9 against New England.
Since joining Atlanta, Gonzalez has converted 19 out of his 22 field-goal attempts for an accuracy rate of 86.4 percent. His longest successful attempt was a 56-yarder earlier this season against New Orleans. He also made all but one of his 18 extra-point tries and recorded twelve touchbacks on thirty-eight kickoffs.
Gonzalez will become a free agent when the new league year begins on March 11.
The Atlanta Falcons are based in Atlanta, Georgia and compete in the National Football League’s NFC South Division as an expansion franchise that began play in 1965. The team has appeared twice in the Super Bowl—in both the 1998 and 2016 seasons—and features Freddie the Falcon as its mascot (https://limpar.locallabs.com/organizations/49b49c7a-e30c-42ef-aa44-28c0e0714af4;https://www.atlantafalcons.com/).
