Jason Sanders has quietly been one of the NFL's most effective kickers

It wasn't all that long ago that New York Jets fans were probably feeling rather bearish about their kicking game. After a summer of musical chairs, the team eventually landed on Jason Sanders as their starting kicker heading into their final preseason game.

As you could expect, Sanders absolutely blew up in the final preseason game, missing both of his field goal and extra point attempts to close out a questionable summer. Jets fans were cursing Darren Mougey for not ponying up a few extra million to retain Nick Folk's services.

The Jets released Sanders as part of 53-man roster cuts and claimed Blake Grupe off waivers from the Indianapolis Colts, but that wasn't the end of the story for the former Miami Dolphins All-Pro.

He was brought back on the practice squad and given the starting nod ahead of Week 1 against the Tennessee Titans. Despite an early shank in that game, Sanders settled in nicely and has been incredibly productive for New York ever since. It's safe to say they have the kicker position figured out.

Jason Sanders solved the New York Jets' short-term kicker problem

While the 30-year-old Sanders may not be the long-term answer for the Jets at kicker, he certainly is for the remainder of the 2026 season, and he's proved that over the team's last six games.

FanSided's Adam Fromal, our resident NFL kicking enthusiast, ranked the NFL's kickers based on their KVA, or Kick Value Added metric. Sanders isn't at the top of the league, but his consistency was recognized as a valuable trait.

"A healthy Jason Sanders has always been an effective Jason Sanders, and he's looked the part for the Jets. He shanked a 54-yarder in his first game of the season, but he's been perfect since and has started to home in on the true center of the uprights with increasing regularity... New York struggled to figure out the position all offseason, but Sanders looks like he'll stick around for a while."

It's still fair to question just how much range Sanders has left in his right leg, but it can't be denied that he's been incredibly efficient in the attempts he's been given this season.

So far in 2026, Sanders is 12-of-13 on field-goal attempts, with his lone miss coming on that rough shank in Week 1. He's been nearly perfect on his extra-point tries as well, converting 8-of-9 attempts.

At this point, Sanders is not only making his case to be the Jets' kicker going forward, but to be their guy in 2027 as well.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow