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New York Jets placekicker Nick Folk interacting with head coach Aaron Glenn before an NFL game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
It sounds like a decision has been made.
New York Jets placekicker Nick Folk pondered retirement at the end of the season, ESPN’s Rich Cimini revealed back in late December.
“By all accounts, Folks is not ready to retire,” Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic wrote on Tuesday, February 10.
“The Jets would be smart to bring him back for another year. Folk signed a one-year, $2.8 million deal last season, and a similar deal seems likely,” Rosenblatt explained.
Folk, 41, just completed his 18th season in the NFL.
Contract Experts Project a Pay Raise Is Coming for Folk
According to Spotrac’s calculated market value, Folk is expected to command a one-year $4.8 million deal in free agency.
That $4.8 million annual salary would place Folk 12th among the highest-paid placekickers in the NFL, per Over The Cap.
Considering the season Folk just turned in, a pay raise is certainly in order.
He appeared in 16 of the 17 games. Folk converted 28-of-29 field goal attempts and was perfect on his extra point attempts (22-of-22) in 2025.
“Folk took over and never looked back, putting together one of the best kicking seasons in franchise history,” Rosenblatt wrote. “[He was] 7 of 8 from 50-plus … [Had] a game-winning 58-yarder against the Falcons.”
This is the third straight season that Folk has led the league in field goal conversion rate. He had a 96.6% conversion rate in 2025, a 95.5% conversion rate in 2024, and a 96.7% conversion rate in 2023.
Jets Need to Bring Folk Back
Things were looking pretty choppy during offseason workouts and the beginning of training camp for the Jets at placekicker.
Two inexperienced players, Caden Davis and Harrison Mevis, were battling it out with no clear winner in sight.
Head coach Aaron Glenn employed a massive youth movement on the roster during his first offseason, seemingly getting rid of the majority of players over the age of 30. However, after this hiccup on special teams, coach Glenn called an audible at the line of scrimmage.
They brought in Folk at the end of July, and he immediately seized the starting job. This was Folk’s second stint with the green and white.
The former Arizona product first joined the Jets in 2010 and was with the team through 2016.
When the Jets cut Folk in February of 2017, Folk was second on the Jets’ all-time scoring list, only behind Pat Leahy. “Over the course of the next seven seasons, Folk connected on 175 field goals and his field goal percentage of (81.3) ranks highest of any Jets kicker with a minimum of 100 attempts,” Jets senior reporter Eric Allen wrote.
During that period of time, Folk earned the nickname “Folk Hero” for his clutch play late in games.
“He connected on seven game-winning field goals for the Green & White, including three in 2013. He tied Leahy for the most game-winning/tying field goals in the last minute of the fourth quarter or overtime with eight,” Allen wrote.
Fok has since broken that record after hitting a game-winning field goal versus the Falcons this past season.
The only potential hiccup in a Folk – Jets reunion in 2026 was a potential retirement. Folk has been doing it for a long time. Now that retirement is out of the way, nothing is stopping these two from reuniting this offseason on a new deal.
Paul Esden Jr. covers the New York Jets for Heavy.com. A New York native, he co-hosts a morning show, “The Manchild Show with Boy Green Digital.” Before joining Heavy in 2021, Esden Jr. covered both national and New York sports for FanSided, Elite Sports NY, and The Score 1260. More about Paul Esden Jr.
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