Texans to re-sign veteran kicker

The Texans are keeping their kicker on another contract. Recent negotiations have produced an agreement with Ka’imi Fairbairn, with ESPN's DJ Bien-Aime reporting the team has a deal in place with its longtime kicker.

The team had begun negotiations with Fairbairn recently, per KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson, who adds Fairbairn’s contract is a three-year agreement. Fairbairn has been the Houston kicker since 2017.

A Hawaii native, Fairbairn led the NFL in field-goal percentage last season. That came in just 12 games, with an injury keeping the veteran kicker out for a midseason stretch, but a 27-of-28 season is nonetheless impressive. 

Fairbairn completed that accuracy showing after making 93.5 percent of his field-goal tries in 2022. Over the past two years, Fairbairn has made 11-of-12 attempts from beyond 50 yards, giving the Texans more reliability than most teams receive on long-range efforts.

Fairbairn began his career in Houston in 2017, but the UCLA alum initially signed with the team as a 2016 UDFA. This marks his second long-term extension with the team, which rewarded its second-longest-tenured player with a four-year, $17.65MM deal in 2020.

While Fairbairn has proven to be a solid option when available, he has gone through two IR stints over the past three years. Little attention went to Fairbairn’s 2021 injury, given the state of the Texans at the time, but his five-game 2023 absence — due to a quad strain — generated more with the team on the rise. 

The Texans brought in Matt Ammendola to be their fill-in leg but saved an IR-return slot for Fairbairn despite being low on activations as they made their successful playoff push. Wednesday’s agreement does well to show the organization’s faith in the veteran specialist.