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Former Cleveland Browns placekicker Cade York reacting in the middle of an NFL game against the Miami Dolphins.
Not everything is as it appears.
On March 9, placekicker Nick Folk bolted from the New York Jets during the legal tampering period to sign a deal with the Atlanta Falcons.
Two days later, on March 11, the Jets agreed to terms with placekicker Cade York in free agency.
That signing was interpreted as the Jets’ plan to replace Folk. However, upon further review, the contract details paint a much different story.
Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic revealed that York signed a “minimum salary ($1.145 million), an indication that he’s not guaranteed the job. Should be a competition.”
Note: The Jets signed kicker Cade York to a minimum salary ($1.145M), an indication that he’s not guaranteed the job. Should be a competition.
Other kicker on roster currently (Lenny Krieg) has no NFL experience, though he spent last season on the Falcons practice squad.
A Massive Sigh of Relief
Oh, thank goodness.
Folk is one of the best placekickers in Jets franchise history. Over the last three years, he has led the league in field goal conversion rate.
York’s arrow is in the opposite direction. According to Pro Football Reference, York hasn’t made a field goal in the NFL since the 2024 season with the Cincinnati Bengals.
York’s career field goal conversion rate is 73.3%. To put that into perspective, only two kickers had a worse field goal conversion rate last season (according to ESPN):
York, 25, is at best unproven. The tape that he has put out there at the NFL level has been lackluster.
The young man is obviously talented. He was taken with the No. 124 overall pick in the fourth round of the 2022 NFL draft. Kickers rarely get selected in the draft, let alone at the top of day three.
The Jets are betting on untapped potential. York was the starting placekicker for an LSU team that won the National Championship.
At the college level, he made 54-of-66 field goal attempts. In two of his three collegiate seasons, he achieved a 85.7% and 83.3% conversion rate.
There Is Always Time to Improve Things at a Later Date
Rosenblatt noted in his post on social media that the Jets didn’t even sign Folk “until training camp last year.”
If the Jets aren’t impressed with what they see during the spring in OTAs and mandatory minicamp, the team can always call an audible at the line of scrimmage.
That mentality is built into general manager Darren Mougey’s DNA. Last year, the Jets decided to go bargain shopping at the defensive tackle position.
From the outside looking in, it seemed like an obvious need for the team. Despite that, Mougey and company simply signed some random low-cost veterans around Quinnen Williams. They slapped a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound and thought that would stop the bleeding.
Spoiler alert: it didn’t.
Mougey and the coaching staff realized during training camp and through the preseason games that they didn’t do enough to fill the cabinet. So Mougey struck a pair of trades to fortify the interior defensive line.
He brought in veteran Harrison Phillips and Jowon Briggs via trade. Mougey gave up some late-round draft capital to elevate the room. Phillips and Briggs raised the floor of the group in 2025 and figure to be key rotational cogs in the 2026 plan.
It wasn’t too late. The Jets could pull that same rabbit out of their hat if the kicker position feels uneasy a few months from now.
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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