Jim Breech

Who is Jim Breech?

James Thomas Breech is a former American football kicker in the National Football League, who played for Oakland Raiders in 1979 and Cincinnati Bengals from 1980-1992. Before his NFL career, Breech played for the University of California and Sacramento High School. Breech was notable among kickers for wearing a different size cleat on his kicking foot. He wore a smaller size 5 cleat on his right kicking foot which he felt gave him more control and stability kicking the football.

After graduating college in 1978, Breech was selected in the 8th round of the 1978 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions but was cut by the team before the start of the season. He spent the 1979 season with the Raiders, but they cut him in the 1980 pre-season in order to sign kicker Chris Bahr, who had just been cut by the Bengals. Breech then found himself unemployed until he received a phone call from Cleveland Browns assistant personnel director Paul Warfield, asking him to come to join the team and fill in for injured kicker Don Cockroft. However, before his scheduled visit to Cleveland, he received another phone call, this one from Bengals assistant personnel director Frank Smouse. Breech decided to join the Bengals, and ended up staying there for the remainder of his career.