The New York Jets have dealt with struggles at Kicker in the 2026 preseason, and don't seem to be close to a full-on solution for 2026 at that position.
The New York Jets
have had a really good offseason. I truly believe that. But this whole debacle at the kicker position makes no sense, and I think they are ruining some of the momentum they've built.
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Before anyone says "it's just a kicker," these guys account for a lot of points every year, and the Jets are screwing themselves over with how they've handled this.
A revolving door at kicker
Jordan Schultz reported
that New York brought in veterans Justin Tucker, Michael Badgley, and Josh Karty for workouts this week. This comes after Jason Sanders won a preseason competition with Cade York to become the Jets' kicker, then went two out of four on field goals in the preseason finale
against the Giants. He also went one for two on extra points.
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That performance landed him on the practice squad. The Jets then claimed Colts kicker Blake Grupe off waivers, and he currently sits on their active 53-man roster.
They clearly can't find a guy who suits what they need, and we are heading into the regular season right now.
Also, mind you, Nick Folk last year was 28-for-29 on field goals
, did not miss a single extra point on the year, and the Jets refused to match his offer sheet
from the Atlanta Falcons because they did not want to "risk" on a 41-year-old kicker.
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Look how that's working out now. They had their guy and let him go.
Why this matters more than people think
The Jets can't afford to have this position unsettled. We saw the kicking game hurt them in 2024 when Greg Zuerlein was struggling
. Zuerlein was awesome in 2023 for the Jets, not so much the following year. They ended up bringing in Anders Carlson, and he didn't play well either. The kicking game definitely cost them some victories that season.
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If the Jets want to start winning games this year, they have to acknowledge how often NFL games come down to one score. A few points here, a possession there. Field goals are of extreme importance, and they've got to figure this out.
And that's my point, we've seen this in recent Jets history.
Now look, if Jason Sanders isn't the guy, fine. Good on them for bringing in Blake Grupe. But why aren't they giving Grupe his proper run? Why are they already working out other kickers?
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If I'm a Jets fan, I don't like seeing that. Give somebody a fair shake and let them roll.
Justin Tucker is easily the best kicker on that workout list, but we know bringing him into this locker room might be frowned upon based on the previous allegations
. Michael Badgley and Josh Karty are veterans who have carved out fairly decent careers, but again, this is almost ridiculous.
I mean three guys in a week. Truthfully, I'm not even sure how the Jets could tell who stands out among them.
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The bigger picture
I would hate for the Jets to start figuring stuff out on offense and defense only for special teams to come back and bite them. I really do think general manager Darren Mougey has had a great offseason. Also, I think Aaron Glenn has been doing a good job as well in building this culture back up.
They've done well up to this point in trying to build a foundation
for this team and get it back to playing winning football. Essentially just improving week in and week out.
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This, though, is not good. The timing is even worse as New York heads to Nashville on Sept. 13 to face the Tennessee Titans. At this point, I don't even know who is going to be kicking for the Jets in that game.
They better find their guy and lock him in as their kicker really soon, or it is going to come back to haunt them. And we all know that special teams woes can be more detrimental than anything to an organization that is trying to become a winner again.
This article was originally published on A to Z Sports. Read the full story here: New York Jets can't seem to figure out one key position and it could come back to haunt them greatly in the 2026 season
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