2026 Hall of Fame: Adam Vinatieri became a legend with some clutch kicks

Five men — Drew Brees, Roger Craig, Luke Kuechly, Larry Fitzgerald and Adam Vinatieri — will be formally enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday in Canton, Ohio. Yahoo Sports will take a relatively short look at each legend and how he reached football immortality.

Adam Vinatieri made 599 regular-season field goals in his career, the most in NFL history. But four made field goals in the playoffs might have been the difference in him making it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Vinatieri's career spanned more than two decades and it's remembered mostly for the biggest few moments. Vinatieri won two Super Bowls with field goals in the final seconds, and neither one was his greatest kick. His greatest kick came in the "Tuck Rule" game, sending a memorable playoff game between the Patriots and Raiders to overtime. He won that game in OT with another kick in the blinding snow.

Play Yahoo's new College Fantasy Football game: Create or join a league now!

Vinatieri didn't make the Hall of Fame only because of those kicks. He set multiple NFL records, including the most points ever scored by a player. He was a tremendous kicker for 24 seasons, 10 with the Patriots and 14 with the Colts.

But the huge kicks we all remember were certainly a big part of him becoming the rare kicker to get a bust in Canton.

STAN HONDA via Getty Images

Adam Vinatieri's legendary kicks in 'Tuck Rule' game

It's not easy to make the Hall of Fame as a kicker. Vinatieri is only the third full-time kicker to make it, joining Jan Stenerud and Morten Andersen.

Vinatieri separated himself with those four clutch kicks that helped define the Patriots' dynasty. The Patriots had never won a Super Bowl before the 2001 season, when they faced the Raiders in a blizzard in the divisional round. After a fourth-quarter fumble by Tom Brady was reversed due to the controversial Tuck Rule, Vinatieri still had to make one of the toughest kicks ever to send the game into overtime.

From 45 yards out with less than a minute to go in regulation, with visibility low and footing very difficult, Vinatieri hit a low line drive through the uprights to keep the Patriots alive.

"I would say it was by far the greatest kick I have ever seen," Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said, via the Colts' site. "The conditions were very difficult. There were probably 3 to 4 inches of snow on the ground. It was a soft snow that kind of didn't go away. I mean, there was no way to get around it. The magnitude of the kick was significant. It's got to be the greatest kick of all time, certainly that I've seen."

The game-winning kick in overtime wasn't as tough. It was from only 23 yards out. Vinatieri made that one too. Without those two kicks, the Patriots lose to the Raiders and don't win their first Super Bowl in franchise history two weeks later.

Vinatieri played a crucial role in that win too, of course.

Vinatieri had long, successful career

Four times, a Super Bowl has been won in the final seconds of regulation with a field goal. Vinatieri accounts for two of those.

In Super Bowl XXXVI, Vinatieri hit a game-winner as time expired to finish the Patriots' massive upset of the Rams. It's still the only field goal to win a Super Bowl with no time left on the clock. Two years later, Vinatieri hit a field goal on the second-to-last play of Super Bowl XXXVIII to beat the Panthers.

Those kicks are the highlights. But his career was much more than that. He set the NFL record for points in the regular season and his 238 postseason points are another league record. He was a part of four Super Bowl championship teams, three with New England and one with Indianapolis.

He was a pretty good athlete as well; the clip of him running down Herschel Walker on a kickoff return as a rookie in 1996 is famous.

Vinatieri was already immortalized due to some of the biggest kicks in NFL history. Now he'll also be remembered forever as a Hall of Famer.