Is Jason Myers the most successful NFL player to come out of Mater Dei?

3 Heisman winners but none have had as much pro success as the Seahawks kicker (yet): Seaside Joe 1587

If you’ve heard of any high school football team other than your own and your crosstown rivals, it could be Mater Dei Catholic in Santa Ana, California. Of all the people in the most populated state in the country—38 million total and 12% of the United States—California has produced 16 Heisman winners.

And three of them went to Mater Dei, two more than any other high school in the state: John Huarte (Notre Dame, 1964), Matt Leinart (USC, 2005), and Bryce Young (Alabama, 2021). So just imagine what it’s like to be arguably the most successul NFL player to come out of Mater Dei and yet they forget to include you in the Wikipedia and make no mention of you on Pro-Football-Reference’s page for alumni. Ah the life of a kicker.

For several reasons, it is harder to delve in Jason Myers’ origin than it is most Seahawks. One, Myers played high school football in the aughts, before most articles and stats and social media took a stronghold on the Internet. Two, he’s a kicker.

I can find all of one page at MaxPreps that shows that Myers made a PAT against Hoover High on the last day of August in 2007, as a junior. To even Google “Jason Myers childhood” is to return results for a meteorologist who died in a helicopter crash in 2022. That’s…no, that’s not the story I’m looking for today.

What we do know of the kicking Jason Myers prior to his career in Seattle, he was born on May 12th, 1991 in Chula Vista, California and he graduated from Mater Dei Catholic high school in 2009. According to his college bio, he was named “Mesa Kicker of the Year” and “First Team Offense” as a senior, as well as South Bay Kicker of the Year as a junior. There are a few highlights from a video posted on YouTube so long ago that the only other clips were probably “Lazy Sunday” and that guy at the zoo.

Myers also went back not long ago, as covered by local news.

Also, his mom and dad have classic parent names: Mary and Don.

Myers then ended up at Marist College, a private university in Poughkeepsie, New York, beginning in 2009. Though Marist doesn’t boast many NFL players among the alumni, all three would have been teammates at one time or another: Former second round tackle Menelik Watson, seventh round defensive end Terrence Fede, and Myers.

As a true freshman, Myers made 8-of-11 field goal attempts, 17-of-19 on PATs (which actually sounds really bad), and he made a game-winning 37-yard kick against Georgetown to win the PFL Special Teams Player of the Week award.

Myers had an at-best “good” career at Marist, but I can’t say that anything from his resume makes him sound like a future NFL kicker, let alone a very rich Pro Bowl kicker. He was “honorable mention” for his conference over his final three seasons, never first or second team; he missed 10 extra points in his career; he went 5/10, 6/7, and 5/10 on field goal tries as a sophomore, junior, and senior; and though he set a school record with a 49-yard field goal, that’s a fairly benign distance these days.

It can’t be understated enough that I don’t know what sort of conditions he was under at Marist or if it may have been that numbers like this were unheard of for a kicker at his level. But he clearly wasn’t even the best kicker in his PFL conference and we’re talking about one of the best players at his position in the NFL today.

From a YouTube account that he created in 2015 that has only posted this one video, Myers posted his career highlights at Marist, choosing “Snow” by Red Hot Chili Peppers as his background music:

“When will i know that I really can’t go, to the well once more time to decide on?/When it’s killing me, when will I really see, all that I need to look inside” - Red Hot Chili Peppers

In a letter he wrote for NewYorkJets.com in 2018, after he was finally getting established in the league, Myers touched on why he may not have had the best college career and other topics covered here today:

I didn't even get a sniff after college, which is fair because I was very raw. I had decent technique, I just needed some tweaks here and there. I love Marist, but we didn't have a special teams coordinator. I had taken a couple of lessons in high school, but nothing serious, so I was just on my own.

I would have assumed that Jason Myers was then a dominant standout in college as a kicker, but the only thing about his career that may be unusual is that Myers also served as Marist’s punter in 2012 and he was probably the best kickoff specialist in the PFL. Those aren’t credits that typically get you noticed by the NFL and sure enough, the NFL did not notice Jason Myers when he graduated from college in 2013. No professional football league did.

It wasn’t until 2014 that Myers would sign with the San Jose SaberCats of the Arena Football League, though ironically it was teammate Nich Pertuit who would win the AFL’s Kicker of the Year award that season.

After college, I went back to San Diego and ended up with the San Jose SaberCats in the Arena Football League, but a lot of guys who kick in Arena get stuck there.

I wanted to give the NFL one more shot.

I started training with Michael Husted, who kicked in the NFL for nine years, in August 2014. That's where things started to turn for me. I didn't realize how close I really was. I worked my butt off in college, but I didn't always know what I was doing. I just knew how to work hard.

In 2018, Myers wrote that before working with Husted, he would watch videos about kicking online but lacked structure and guidance to understand why he wasn’t more accurate. He started training with Husted three times a week, working as a valet at night to pay the bills and then hitting the gym every morning.

Myers reached a deal to join the Arizona Rattlers in 2015, another AFL team, but he’d never have to go back to Arena.

Under Husted’s guidance, Myers had become a better prospect than “a lot of the NFL guys working with Michael” and Husted brought him to Mobile, Alabama for a workout at the 2015 Senior Bowl. The Jacksonville Jaguars liked what they saw and invited Myers to rookie minicamp, where he beat out Derek Dimke for a spot on the roster behind veteran Josh Scobee.

Wednesday’s article on how to spend $1 million as a Seahawks fan got cut off before it finished on the e-mail edition so click here to read the whole piece if you haven’t already.

Dimke, the most accurate kicker in the history of the University of Illinois, had been with four NFL teams (all offseason or practice squad) prior to the Jaguars. But Myers was better at rookie camp and essentially ended Dimke’s career. Still, that was only opening the door to potentially have an NFL career and standing on the other side was an 11-year veteran who had become a Jaguars fan favorite since 2004.

There was no thought that Jacksonville was preparing to make a change at kicker, but after seeing what Myers could do in training camp and the preseason, the Jaguars traded Scobee to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a sixth round pick right before the season…and Myers essentially ended Scobee’s career. But not without skepticism, as evidenced from this headline by The St. Augustine Record’s Mark Long at the time:

Rookie Jason Myers becomes Jaguars kicker after mediocre college career

As reporters and cameras gathered around new Jacksonville Jaguars kicker Jason Myers, teammates started walking by.

Several players stopped to listen. One yelled, "I see you, J!" Another added, "It's show time."

Myers suddenly felt the kind of pressure that comes with a game-winning field goal. The Jaguars can only hope he handles meaningful kicks the same way he did the crowded locker room.

"If you get caught looking too far ahead, stuff goes downhill," said Myers, who maintained his poise through all his teammates' playful jabs. "So I'm just going one kick at a time."

Myers became Jacksonville's place-kicker this week when general manager Dave Caldwell traded veteran Josh Scobee to Pittsburgh in exchange for a sixth-round draft pick in 2016. Even though Myers performed as well as Scobee during training camp and the preseason, going with a rookie is certainly a risky move.

Then again, no one seems to have doubts about the 24-year-old Marist graduate and former Arena Football League kicker.

"In the first few days (of minicamp), we could tell," punter Bryan Anger said. "It was like, 'Holy crap, this guy's got a cannon of a leg.'"

Beginning to believe that he was actually better than most NFL kickers, Jason Myers rode that confidence into going 26-of-30 on field goal attempts as a rookie in 2015 and boasting one of the strongest legs in the league. But there were also some concerns, as Myers missed seven extra points in 2015, the first season that the NFL pushed back the PAT to the 15-yard line.

In 2016, Myers was more accurate on extra points (29-of-32) and less accurate on field goals (27-of-34), but he did make seven kicks beyond 50, while also missing five.

Then disaster for Myers struck in 2017, in a way that it does for most kickers, as the Jaguars released him only six games into the season after he missed two 54-yard field goals in a loss to the Rams. Belief was already on a tightrope, as Jacksonville had worked out several free agents during the preseason and ultimately decided to replace Myers with Josh Lambo.

That seemed like a smart move, at least for a little while, but Lambo’s struggles in 2021 not only led to him being released, it also ended in him suing the team because he was mentally and physically abused by then-coach Urban Meyer. Jason Myers couldn’t have gotten away from Duval fast enough.

Fittingly, Myers emerged from his disappointment in Jacksonville and several failed tryouts by signing with Pete Carroll’s Seahawks in 2018. The team unfortunately went with Sebastian Janikowski instead, a decision that would cost Seattle in more ways than one.

Myers ended up doing well enough to get an opportunity with the New York Jets in 2018. Back to his letter:

In Seattle this summer, I didn't get a lot of opportunities in the preseason, but I knew I was kicking well. I figured I'd get another opportunity, but I didn't know how quick it would come. I thought I'd have to wait until the end of the preseason or midseason. I'm very thankful for the Jets.

I had my car up in Seattle, got picked up off waivers, drove to Boise where my brother in-law lives, dropped my car off and flew back to Scottsdale. The next day I took a redeye, came out here and went straight to practice.

I never really sat back at and looked at what was going on. I kind of just kept going day-by-day, kick-by-kick, which has been my mantra all season. It really helped me get through a big turnaround going from the West Coast to the East Coast on a new team in the middle of training camp with only two preseason games left.

After being out of the league for 10 weeks last season, my mindset changed. I don't really worry about my job anymore because I know what I'm capable of. I'm a very short-term guy, which my wife hates. She's always trying to plan long-term.

Janikowski was neither impressive nor disaster in 2018, but the Seahawks would be back on the market in 2019. Among the best free agents available at any position was Myers, a Pro Bowl kicker with the Jets after being waived by Seattle: 33-of-36 on field goals, 6-of-7 beyond 50, and 30-of-33 on extra points.

The Seahawks would now have to pay Myers a four-year, $15.45 million contract to “apologize” for overlooking him in 2018, a deal that was heavily criticized at the time not only because Myers is a kicker but also because he was only two years removed from being cut by the Jaguars.

Though Myers hasn’t been a perfect kicker with the Seahawks (except for in 2020, when he literally went 24-of-24), he could soon close the gap between himself and Stephen Hauschka, the franchise’s all-time leader in field goals (175) and accuracy (88.8%). Myers is 98-of-112 on total field goals, but his 13 career makes outside of 50 yards is only two fewer than Hauschka. He has also made 87.5% of his attempts and Hauschka’s accuracy is largely thanks to a large number of hits inside 40 yards.

Myers also has a higher rate of touchbacks on kickoffs, 55.7% to 49.3%.

Pro Bowls aren’t much more than an asterisk you get on your career page, but Myers went to his second career Pro Bowl in 2022 and Hauschka never made one. Fittingly, Hauschka’s career ended in being cut by the Jaguars in 2020, so even Myers’ career-lows are the same.

As of the 2023 offseason, Myers also has the distinction of signing his second four-year contract with Seattle, this one worth as much as $22.6 million.

“We wanted to stay here the whole time,” Myers was quoted as saying. “We had no plans of leaving and we love this organization, the coaching staff, players, everything. I’m so excited to be able to stay for four more years at least, hopefully more.”

“It’s just the first step in our offseason,” Schneider said. “We identified Jason, especially having the year he had, as somebody we wanted to get done as quickly as we possibly could. He’s a huge piece of our championship culture, and he was eager, as were we, to consummate a deal. … It’s a first step for us for 2023.”

“Yeah, he had another great season,” Carroll said. “It’s unfortunate that he doinked one, but it might distract you from it. He came right back and kicked it. Look at the kick at the end of the half, what a great play that was for a kicker. He had a terrific year.”

As an alumni of Mater Dei, Myers not only has to compete with three Heisman winners as having the most successful careers after high school, but also Amon-Ra St. Brown, Trent McDuffie, Todd Marinovich, Colt Brennan, Matt Barkley, current NFL punter Ryan Stonehouse, J.T. Daniels, Quentin Lake, Larry Williams, and Curtis Robinson. He also has to compete as the best Mater Dei alum on his own roster.

Recent defensive tackle signee Austin Faoliu also went to Mater Dei.

That’s probably not a name that has to concern a two-time Pro Bowler from his title any time soon. That could be St. Brown, McDuffie, or Bryce Young. But as of today, Myers has still scored more points, made more Pro Bowls, and signed more lucrative contracts than any other graduate of his famous football high school.

Could he also be the first Super Bowl winner?

Like I tell myself every Monday no matter if I missed one or went 7-for-7 the day before: Let's have a better week than I did last week.

Start strong and finish stronger.

Seahawks report to training camp in: 19 days

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Wednesday’s article on how to spend $1 million as a Seahawks fan got cut off before it finished on the e-mail edition so click here to read the whole piece if you haven’t already.