Belleville’s Austin Seibert steps away from NFL, focused on family and new goals
Every time Austin Seibert walked through the door of his grandparents’ house during summer breaks from Oklahoma, his grandfather, Paul, always greeted him with, “NFL,” as in, “That’s where you’re going.”
Indeed, the former Belleville West star placekicker and punter did make it to the NFL. Over parts of six seasons, he kicked for the Cleveland Browns, Cincinnati Bengals, Detroit Lions, New York Jets and Washington Commanders. Seibert’s NFL career came to an end this week, however, as the 28-year-old announced his retirement due to nagging injuries.
Those who might believe Seibert is disconsolate over the decision weren’t listening to my phone call with him Tuesday morning.
Seibert is excited about a near-term future that includes being a full-time dad to two young children and a husband, along with a planned attempt at becoming a full-time teacher and possibly a staff football coach at Waterloo High School. As he has for years, he also plans to continue private coaching for aspiring kickers.
In fact, Seibert turned down a recent offer from the New York Giants to compete for a kicking job. After initially agreeing to take the offer, Seibert was driving in his car when, he said, “It just hit me that, hey, it’s time. I don’t want to do this anymore. And I haven’t had any second thoughts since.”
Seibert had a notable NFL career, making 72 of 86 field-goal attempts (83.7 percent). Just last year, he kicked a career-long 55-yarder for the Commanders as part of a season in which he was successful on 27 of 30 attempts and finished with 103 points.
But injuries to his groin and hips persisted to the point where Seibert didn’t think he could perform to the standard he set for himself.
“I didn’t want to have to take the pills and keep getting the shots anymore,” Seibert said.
Asked if he would entertain thoughts of a comeback if his right leg started feeling perfect again, Seibert was succinct.
“No, I think this is really it. Yeah, sure, it’s a little bit bittersweet, not being able to maybe have a longer career, but I have no regrets and am just looking forward to a new life now,” Seibert said.
Seibert starred for Belleville West for four years, beating out upperclassmen for the kicking job in his freshman year. Not only was he making 50-yard field goals at times for the Maroons, but he was also a booming punter and a real weapon when it came to field position.
The Maroons defeated East St. Louis his senior year, largely because of the Flyers being pinned deep after his long and accurate coffin-corner punts.
Seibert was ranked the No. 1 punter in his class by Kohl’s in 2015 before going on to star as a two-way kicker at Oklahoma. He graduated with the most career points scored in Big 12 history and is believed to be the only college kicker to start all four years as both placekicker and punter.
He was drafted in the fifth round by Cleveland in 2019 and totaled 105 points (25 of 29 field goals) as a rookie. Then, the injuries started, including a full tear of the groin muscles.
“I’m sure I’d still be kicking if I could at 100 percent, but, you know, that wasn’t the case,” Seibert said. “I’d probably be on a second or third (longer-term) contract by now. But I have a lot of great memories of being a pro football player. I mean, that’s what I wanted to do, from a very young age. I made some good money, I got to kick at the highest level. I mean, I never looked at things where I wanted to get greedy. I’m thankful for what I had.”
Seibert said he faced a lot of skepticism from others that he’d ever make it so far, but a “Rocky Balboa,” prove-them-wrong mentality overcame it all.
“I just always had a lot of inner confidence. I was beating out kids much older than me starting around eighth grade. In fact, I still remember it as if it were yesterday: I remember sitting with my grandpa watching a Mississippi State-Auburn game and there was an ad for the Under Armour (high school) all-star game and I told him, ‘I’m going to play in that game some day.’ And, I did,” Seibert said.
There is one thing Seibert would still like to accomplish.
“I would love to get my No. 43 retired by Belleville West,” he said with a chuckle. “My brother, Logan, also wore that number. I see other high schools in the area retiring some player numbers, and so, yeah, I wouldn’t mind that – for both of us.”
This story was originally published September 24, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
