How many points is a safety worth in American football?

A safety is worth 2 points in American football. The scoring team earns those points when the ball becomes dead in the defending team’s own end zone, such as when a ball carrier is tackled there or an offensive foul occurs there.

Safeties are unusual because the team that scores does not simply kick the ball away afterward. Instead, the team that gave up the safety performs a free kick, allowing the scoring team to regain possession and often begin with favorable field position. This makes a safety more valuable strategically than its two-point total alone suggests.

A common mix-up is confusing a safety with a defensive touchdown. A safety ends with two points and a change of possession through a free kick; a fumble recovery or interception returned to the end zone is a touchdown worth six points. Safeties can also occur during unusual conversion plays, although those are extremely rare in the NFL.