NY Jets release Brett Maher, Sam Ficken wins the kicker job

The NY Jets have released kicker Brett Maher meaning that Sam Ficken has won the job.

The NY Jets have seemingly announced the winner of their training camp kicker battle following the release of Brett Maher. As a result, it looks as though the incumbent Sam Ficken has won the job.

The Jets officially announced that they had signed veteran wide receiver Donte Moncrief on Monday. And in a corresponding move, they released Maher to make room on the roster.

This comes one day after Ficken outperformed Maher in practice which was likely the final catalyst for this move. The upstart Maher only made two of his four kicks with misses from both 48 and 52 yards out.

Ficken, on the other hand, connected on all four kicks from the same distance. And now just one day later, the Jets have seemingly made up their minds.

An undrafted free agent way back in 2013, Maher was actually signed by the Jets after earning a contract during rookie minicamp. However, he was released prior to the start of the preseason.

Following short stints with a few other teams in the preseason and some time spent in the CFL, Maher finally received his first opportunity in 2018 with the Dallas Cowboys.

And the Nebraska product would end up doing pretty well making 80 percent of his field-goal attempts. The Cowboys brought him back the following year, but things took a turn for the worse.

After making just 67 percent of his kicks, Dallas released Maher in favor of veteran Kai Forbath. Maher looked to receive another opportunity with the Jets but struggled throughout much of camp.

NY Jets’ kicker Sam Ficken may have won the battle, but he might not have won the war.

Despite a strong showing on Sunday, Ficken has been far from perfect either. The former Los Angeles Rams kicker has struggled at times as well and up until recently was considered “neck and neck” with Maher.

Just because Ficken has “won” the job, doesn’t mean that he’ll be the team’s Week 1 kicker. The 27-year-old has the worst field-goal percentage of any qualified kicker since 2017 after making just 70 percent of his field-goal attempts last year.

Ficken is a below-average option and statistically one of the worst kickers in the league. Don’t be surprised to see the Jets scavenge the waiver wire or the free-agent market for competition or even an outright replacement.

But for now, Sam Ficken is the only kicker on the Jets roster. And that has to count for something.