Pro Career
Hanson was selected in the second round (56th overall) of the 1992 NFL Draft by the Lions, for whom he still plays. No NFL player has been with the same team as long as Hanson (310 games), setting the record in Week 2 of the 2011 season vs. the Kansas City Chiefs. With the beginning of the 2012 season, he also set the record for most years with the same club, 21, a mark he had shared with Darrell Green of the Washington Redskins and Jackie Slater of the Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams.
With the trade of Brett Favre, as well as the retirement of Michael Strahan, Hanson is the last player to have played for the same team he played for prior to the advent of free agency and the salary cap in the NFL.
In addition to being the all-time longest-tenured Lion, Hanson is the only player who was with the team for both its playoff runs in the 1990s, and also the team's infamous 0-16 campaign in 2008.
On December 14, 2008, against the Indianapolis Colts, Hanson passed Morten Andersen for most 50+ yard field goals in NFL history. Hanson again had a good year, ending the 2008 NFL season 21-for-22 on field goal attempts (including 8 for 8 from 50+ yards) and 25-for-26 on extra point attempts. Statistically, this was the second best season of Hanson's career with respect to field goal attempts; he missed only one. After the late 2010 NFL season, Hanson has missed only eight extra points in his career, five of which were blocked.
On December 2, 2010, the Lions placed him on injured reserve due to an injured right knee.
Hanson was named NFC Special Teams Player of the Month for September 2011 after kicking a perfect 8 of 8 field goals. It was his fifth-career Special Teams Player of the Month award and his first since November 2003.
Hanson is the team's all-time leader in scoring, with 2,100 points (as of November 18, 2012), and in field goals with 483 (as of the same date), and holds a variety of other team records for kicking and scoring. He represented the NFC in the Pro Bowl in 1998 and 1999, and was an alternate in 1997 and 2008. He has booted 17 game-winning field goals in his career; eight in regulation and nine in overtime.
Read more about this topic: Jason Hanson
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