Jets Still Have No Starting Kicker Four Days Before Season Opener After Workouts With Justin Tucker, Michael Badgley and Joshua Karty

The New York Jets open their season Sunday at Tennessee, and as of Thursday, September 10, they do not know who is kicking the ball.

This didn't happen overnight. The Jets let Nick Folk, who missed exactly one field goal all last season and didn't miss a single extra point, walk in free agency this offseason rather than match his offer sheet from the Atlanta Falcons, according to A to Z Sports. That decision set off a chain of moves that has the Jets still auditioning kickers days before Week 1.

Cade York and Jason Sanders competed for the job through training camp and preseason. Sanders won it. Special teams coordinator Chris Banjo publicly named him the Week 1 starter, according to the NY Post. Then Sanders went 2-of-4 on field goals and 1-of-2 on extra points in the preseason finale against the Giants, missing a 54-yard attempt and an extra point, according to Fox Sports Radio New Jersey and A to Z Sports.

The Jets waived York. Then they waived Sanders and, in a corresponding move on August 31, claimed Blake Grupe off waivers from the Indianapolis Colts, per multiple reports including NYJets.com and jetsinsider. Days later, they re-signed Sanders to the practice squad to keep the competition alive.

Grupe, listed at 5-foot-10 and 183 pounds, spent three seasons with the New Orleans Saints, converting 75 of 94 field goals (79.8%) and 86 of 88 extra points, according to NYJets.com. He struggled last season, missing eight field goals and getting cut in late November, before Indianapolis signed him and promoted him to the active roster on December 10. He made all 11 of his field-goal attempts down the stretch, including a franchise-record 60-yarder against Seattle. He then lost the Colts' own summer kicking competition to Spencer Shrader, a former Notre Dame teammate he'd helped recruit.

Even with Grupe now on the 53-man roster, the Jets kept looking. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported the team worked out former Rams kicker Joshua Karty on Tuesday, according to thejetpress. Jordan Schultz then reported the Jets also brought in five-time All-Pro Justin Tucker and veteran Michael Badgley this week, according to Fox Sports Radio New Jersey and A to Z Sports.

Tucker hasn't kicked in a game since 2024. Baltimore released him in May 2025 after massage therapists accused him of inappropriate sexual behavior; the NFL suspended him 10 games. Tucker has maintained he did nothing wrong and wants to "put this difficult episode behind him," according to comments reported by the Athletic and cited by Fox Sports Radio New Jersey. He's tried out for New Orleans and Indianapolis this summer without landing a job. His career 89.1% field-goal rate ranks third all-time among kickers with at least 100 attempts, but his 2024 season was his worst, at 73.3%.

Head coach Aaron Glenn told reporters this week he isn't panicking. "I think they're both capable men, all right. And at the end of the day, we got to pick one guy that's going to be a kicker," he said, according to NYJets.com. Practice squad kickers can be elevated on gameday, so Glenn genuinely can wait until Saturday to decide, and workouts with veterans like Tucker cost nothing more than a roster spot for a day.

The pattern of auditions suggests indecision. Three kickers auditioned in one week, on top of a two-man competition that's already dragged into September, suggests a front office searching for its guy. As A to Z Sports put it, "I'm not even sure how the Jets could tell who stands out among them."

Banjo, addressing reporters Thursday, gave the same answer he and Glenn have given all week: the team wants "confidence and consistency" and won't name a starter early, according to the NY Post and Sports Illustrated. Grupe, working with a new holder and long snapper for the first time in his career, acknowledged the adjustment himself: "Definitely takes time. It does take reps, but that's what preparation is for," he said, per NYJets.com.

The Jets have real history here. Greg Zuerlein was solid in 2023 and fell apart in 2024; Anders Carlson didn't fix it, and special teams cost the team winnable games that season, according to A to Z Sports.

The answer arrives Saturday, when the Jets reveal their practice squad elevations ahead of kickoff at Nissan Stadium in Nashville. If Sanders gets elevated, he likely kicks. If not, Grupe opens the season with a snapper and holder he's worked with for barely a week.