NY Jets release Sergio Castillo after a disastrous Week 14

The NY Jets have released kicker Sergio Castillo after his disastrous Week 14.

The NY Jets will have themselves a new kicker this week after they officially announced the release of the incumbent Sergio Castillo. It was a nice story for a while.

A former AAF, CFL, and XFL kicker who had bounced around all the second-tier football leagues looking for a break finally got one when he was signed to the Jets practice squad in the middle of October.

Just 10 days later, he was elevated to the active roster following an injury to Sam Ficken and would make his NFL debut just two weeks before his 30th birthday. And the early results were promising.

Castillo made six of his first seven field goals with his only miss coming on a block. Those six kicks included one from 55 yards out in the team’s Week 8 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

However, things tailed off rather quickly as Castillo would only make two of his next six field-goal attempts and he even missed his first extra point. His fate was sealed this past Sunday when he missed three first-half field goals, all within 50 yards.

The NY Jets have two possible replacements for Sergio Castillo

With Sam Ficken eligible to return from injured reserve this week, it seemed likely that Castillo would be replaced by the man who started the year as the Jets’ kicker. But the Jets added some extra insurance on Monday claiming fellow kicker Chase McLaughlin off waivers.

McLaughlin has been the kicker for the Jacksonville Jaguars the past three weeks making four of five field-goal attempts with his only miss coming on a desperation 62-yarder at the end of regulation last week.

However, he did miss a crucial extra-point earlier in the game that ultimately came back to bite his team.

The Jets will have the option of rolling with either McLaughlin or Ficken this week, but the safe bet is on the former. There isn’t necessarily a rush to activate Ficken and the Jets likely want to see what they have in their latest waiver claim.

But as for the Sergio Castillo era, the fairytale has reached its conclusion. Although he’ll likely get a shot with another team somewhere down the line.