Jets Kicking Competition Stays Unsettled: Koo's Decline and York's Uncertainty Create Opening-Week Risk

The Jets signed Younghoe Koo to their 90-man roster, creating a three-way kicking competition alongside Cade York and Lenny Krieg. Per SNY's Connor Hughes, Koo stays in New York after a brief stint with the Giants, where he converted 6-of-9 field goal attempts across five games but missed both tries from 50-plus yards before being waived in December.

Koo's résumé once carried weight—Pro Bowl nod in 2020, a five-year, $24.25MM extension in 2022, and consecutive seasons above 93% accuracy in 2020-21. That contract reflected genuine elite production. But the past two seasons tell a different story. Koo's conversion rate collapsed to 73.5% in 2024 with Atlanta, a sharp drop from his 86.5% clip in 2022-23. A widely-circulated viral moment—when Koo whiffed entirely on a Monday-night field goal attempt—crystallized the perception of a kicker in decline. At 31 and coming off unsuccessful trials with New Orleans, Koo represents a low-cost roster filler, not a solution.

York, signed to a one-year deal in March with no guaranteed money, remains the presumed frontrunner. But his contract structure reveals the Jets' low conviction level. A team that lost established kicker Nick Folk to the Falcons in free agency and waived Will Ferrin earlier this month has cycled through three capable bodies without committing to any of them. This indecision extends into Week 1. If York struggles in preseason or if either Koo or Krieg demonstrates unexpected reliability, the Jets could pivot to an unproven option when games count.

For bettors tracking team totals and spread correlations, unstable special teams create hidden variance. The Jets' 2025 win total and weekly totals already reflect offensive uncertainty around Aaron Rodgers and the secondary. Add a kicker situation that won't be resolved until late August, and you're pricing uncertainty on top of uncertainty. York's floor is lower than Folk's; Koo's ceiling is significantly lower than his 2020-form. Any close game decided by field position or a late kick becomes a coin-flip rather than a reliable execution point. This matters most in tight spreads where a missed extra point or a blocked field goal swings the margin.