Jets biggest offseason mistake may have been giving up too easily on Nick Folk

Nick Folk was arguably the most stabilizing presence for the New York Jets during the 2025 season, missing only one field goal attempt on the season and scoring 106 total points for the Jets.

After the disaster that was Greg Zuerlein in 2024, Folk was a breath of fresh air in his second stint with the Jets, which made it all the more painful when he walked away in free agency.

Rather than opting to pay up and re-sign the 41-year-old kicker, the Jets decided not to match or exceed the Atlanta Falcons' two-year, $9 million offer, and Folk will now be kicking in Atlanta this season.

As many great moves general manager Darren Mougey made this offseason, this one could really end up biting him as the Jets continue to look for stability at the kicker position with training camp a little more than a month away.

Jets still looking for stability at kicker after losing Nick Folk

To say it's been a revolving door for kickers this summer in New York would be an understatement. They've signed several dating back to free agency, including Cade York, Younghoe Koo, and Jason Sanders, but currently, only York and Sanders remain.

According to The Athletic's Zack Rosenblatt, who has been in attendance at Jets practices open to the media, provided an update on how both veteran kickers performed throughout minicamp.

Neither kicker seems to be setting themself apart from the other, and it appears the Jets kicking competition is far from over.

Sanders is easily the most accomplished of the two of them. He's had a longer, more successful career and was even once an All-Pro.

Despite that, he missed all of the 2025 season with an injury and was released by the Giants earlier in the offseason.

All this to say, there's no sure thing available to the Jets at this moment in time, and they'll surely continue to scour the market over the next few months to find their 2026 kicker.

But the problem is that this could have been avoided. The Jets had the cap space to retain Folk, but they obviously just felt they had gotten the most out of the veteran kicker and were confident they could find a replacement.

We'll see if this Jets mistake ends up costing them once September rolls around.

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