Looking back at the New York Jets’ offseason, one of the most commonly cited mistakes was letting Nick Folk walk in free agency.
Despite entering his 40s, Folk was the most accurate kicker in football from 2023-25 and performed excellently for the Jets in 2025.
But New York watched him sign with the Atlanta Falcons on the free-agent market, and since then, the team has played musical chairs with kickers, cycling through a multitude of place kickers throughout the summer.
Ultimately, the team settled on Jason Sanders to be their Week 1 guy—which was disappointing following a rough summer. The early returns, however, indicate that the Jets may have dodged a bullet by letting Folk sign with Atlanta.
During his Falcons debut on Sunday, when Atlanta lost 20-13 to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Folk went two-of-four on his field goal attempts, missing 54- and 45-yarders.
In just Week 1, Folk had the same number of field goal misses that he had over the past two seasons combined. Yikes.
It’s also worth noting that Atlanta was forced to start their backup QB on Sunday, Cooper Rush, making the margin for error very thin to begin with. The two missed kicks make it even tougher for Atlanta to stay in the game against Pittsburgh, a playoff team last year.
As for Sanders, he made three of his four field goals in Gang Green’s Week 1 win, coming from 33, 51, and 52 yards, while he had a very ugly miss from 54. He also converted both of his extra point attempts.
Perhaps Folk has just lost his stride. While he has been very accurate over the past three seasons, older kickers can just lose their footing at any point. Look at former Jets kicker Greg Zuerlein, who fell off a cliff in 2024 at age 37 after a standout 2023 season. Zuerlein hasn’t been back in the league since.
Only time will tell if the Jets made the right decision, but at least in Week 1, New York was better off with Sanders.
