Jets face familiar dilemma after Nick Folk spurns them in free agency

The New York Jets have lost their place kicker to the Atlanta Falcons. NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reported Monday afternoon that Nick Folk and Atlanta agreed to terms on a two-year deal, with no confirmed number on how much the Falcons will be paying the 41-year-old kicker.

New York will now be in the same position they were entering the 2025 offseason, on the hunt for a stable answer at the kicker position. Folk was lights out last season in his second career stint with the Jets, drilling 28 of 29 field goal attempts and never missing an extra point.

There was hope that the two sides could come to an agreement in free agency, but instead, Folk is taking his talents to Atlanta. The Jets will head back to the kicker well for the second consecutive offseason, but there's no guarantee they find one that will match Folk's output in 2025.

Losing Nick Folk is an all too familiar spot to Jets fans

Folk was a revelation for the Jets in 2025, coming off the disastrous 2024 season that saw New York lose multiple games thanks to ineptitude at one of the most underrated positions in the NFL.

New York thought they had something in Greg Zuerlein. In 2023, the veteran kicker made 35 of 38 field goal attempts and missed only one extra point attempt. But once the calendar flipped to 2024, Zuerlein turned into a pumpkin.

The kicker, affectionately referred to as "Greg the Leg," completely lost it. He turned in a field goal percentage of 60%, and only appeared in eight games before being shut down with an injury. The rest of the season, the Jets turned to Anders Carlson, Greg Joseph, Spencer Shrader, and Riley Patterson.

The group was a combined 11 of 13 on field goals, but at that point, the Jets' season was already lost. It led to a search for a competent kicker under the new regime in 2025 that ultimately landed on Folk.

On the bright side, Darren Mougey and Aaron Glenn were the ones who targeted Folk in the first place, and Chris Banjo seems like one of the better special teams coaches in the NFL.

Hopefully, the Jets can dig back into their kicker bag of tricks from last offseason and find themselves a competent replacement at the position.