During the 2024 season, the New York Jets had the oldest player in the NFL in Aaron Rodgers, and although he’s no longer on the roster, the Jets will likely be going into the upcoming season with the second-oldest player in the NFL after signing Nick Folk on Tuesday.
The veteran kicker, who will be turning 41 in November, is now the second-oldest player in the NFL, behind only Rodgers, who will turn 42 in December. Folk is returning to the team after nine years away.Â
The addition of Folk means that the Jets’ kicking battle might already be over after just five practices of training camp. The competition between Caden Davis and Harrison Mevis was set to be one of the more intriguing battles of Jets’ camp this year, but now it’s starting to look like both guys might end up losing. As a matter of fact, Davis is already on his way out after being released on Tuesday following the signing of Folk. Â
Although Mevis is still on the roster, Jets head coach Aaron Glenn seemed thrilled that his team was able to land Folk, which makes it sound like New York will be going with the veteran once the regular season starts.Â
“He is a very established kicker in the this league,” Glenn said of Folk on Tuesday. “When you go back and you look at his stats from the past couple of years, they’ve been above board. I’ve said this from the beginning, anybody who can help us win games, we’re going to take a look at that. … I’m happy that he chose us to be a part of what we’re trying to do.”
Folk doesn’t have a booming leg, but he does bring a strong trait that the Jets didn’t really have last year: Accuracy. As a team, the Jets hit just 71.4% of their field goal attempts last season, which was the third-worst accuracy rate int he league. On the other hand, no one was more accurate than Folk, who hit 95.5% of his field goals in Tennessee, which led the NFL. Folk hit 21 of his 22 field goal attempts, including a perfect 6 of 6 from beyond 50 yards. Folk also led the league in accuracy in 2023.Â
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The Jets missed a total of eight field goals last season while Folk has only missed a total of seven field goals over the past three seasons COMBINED. Mevis certainly has a bigger leg than Folk, but he doesn’t have the experience or the accuracy, which seem to be two traits Glenn prefers right now.Â
Even if the Jets go with Folk, they’ll likely keep Mevis around for the next month so that the 40-year-old isn’t handling every kick in training camp.Â
Although Folk is currently the second-oldest player in the NFL, that might not be the case when the season starts. Marcedes Lewis and Matt Prater, who are currently free agents, are both older than Folk. They both played in the NFL last season, and if they sign somewhere for the 2025 season, that will drop Folk down on the NFL’s list of oldest players for 2025.Â
Folk is going into his 18th NFL season, and this will be his second stint with the Jets. He spent seven seasons kicking for the team from 2010 thru 2016. During that time, he hit several big kicks for the Jets, including a game-winner in the wild-card round of the playoffs that gave New York a 17-16 victory against Peyton Manning’s Colts in January 2011. The Jets made it all the way to the AFC title game that year, which marks the last time they were in the playoffs. Folk scored 729 points during his time with the Jets, which is the second-most in franchise history.Â
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