The NFL has a funny way of coming full circle.
Nick Folk, who signed with the New York Jets this week, was once teammates with legendary pass rusher Jason Taylor. Over a decade later, the veteran kicker shares a locker room with Taylor’s son, rookie tight end Mason Taylor, who’s fully aware of the nostalgia.
“It’s crazy to think about,” the tight end said following Saturday’s Jets’ Green and White scrimmage. “Now that he’s on my team, it’s a blessing, for sure.”
Jason Taylor and Folk overlapped in New York for one season (2010), which consisted of an AFC championship game appearance. Ironically (and painfully) enough, it remains the most recent season that the Jets have appeared in a playoff game.
“I remember him [Mason] running around in Cortland when he was little,” Folk said. “It is a crazy world that we are in right now. (He’s) fun to be around, and he is obviously a great player.”
Taylor was selected 42nd overall in the 2025 NFL draft after three seasons at LSU.
A former three-star recruit from St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Taylor appeared in 38 games for the Tigers, finishing his collegiate career with 129 receptions for 1,308 yards and six touchdowns.
More than a decade after helping lead the Jets to their last playoff run, Folk is back, this time alongside the son of a former teammate. If history has a sense of humor, a full-circle reunion with the Taylors might just be what sparks New York’s return to January football.
With Mason Taylor now calling him a teammate, Nick Folk has officially reached “Unc” status as the kids say, whether the New York Jets’ placekicker likes it or not.