With Sunday’s season opener drawing closer, the Jets still have not settled on a kicker, allowing a shaky position battle to linger into the final days before Week 1. The competition, already underwhelming, became even more complicated last week when New York claimed Blake Grupe, adding another layer to a spot that has caused the franchise plenty of frustration over the years.
Special teams coordinator Chris Banjo said the Jets are searching for two simple things as they weigh Grupe against Jason Sanders: “confidence and consistency.”
The harder question is what the team does if both kickers show exactly that throughout the week.
“I guess time will tell,” Banjo said Thursday before the Jets took the practice field in preparation for their Week 1 matchup with the Tennessee Titans in Nashville.
For now, the situation has not inspired much certainty. The unease dates back to the spring, when the Jets allowed veteran Nick Folk to leave in free agency despite the fact that he missed only one kick during the entire previous season.
Grupe, 27, had a strong preseason with the Colts but was released after losing the competition to Spencer Shrader.
Sanders won the Jets job over Cade York, something Banjo publicly declared at his last press conference prior to Thursday, but Gang Green released Sanders and subsequently signed him to the practice squad, kick-starting another competition.
“He’s been a true professional,” Banjo said when asked how Sanders, who missed two kicks in the preseason finale against the Giants, has handled the situation. “Again, we ask these guys to come to work, put their head down, and just go to work and compete and he’s continued to do that. He hasn’t blinked at all since our last preseason game, and he just comes to work and continues to perform.”
Where head coach Aaron Glenn, Banjo and the Jets ultimately land will come into focus Saturday, when Gang Green’s practice squad elevations are revealed.
If Sanders gets elevated, that likely means he’ll kick. If not, that means the Jets will turn to Grupe, who missed two kicks in the preseason and went 29-for-37 last year across 16 games with the Saints and Colts, to open the season.
But until then, that competition — which has been disastrous in past seasons outside of the stability Folk provided in his second stint with the team — remains a mystery.
When asked about his personal feelings with the onset of a season after being away from the NFL for two years, offensive coordinator Frank Reich mostly deflected to the rest of the Jets in his answer, but he did acknowledge, “It feels like I’ve never left.”
Reich last coached an official game in the league in November 2023, when he was the head coach of the Panthers. He’ll call plays for the Jets from the press box like he did in the preseason.
EDGE Joseph Ossai (foot) and WR Tim Patrick (groin) were the only Jets who didn’t practice Thursday.
CB D’Angelo Ponds (calf) was a limited participant.
RB Isaiah Davis (knee), RB Breece Hall (groin) and TE Kenyon Sadiq (groin) were all full participants.
Titans linebacker Cedric Gray, who is in concussion protocol after a UTV accident over the weekend, didn’t practice for a second consecutive day.
Defensive coordinator Brian Duker said the Jets watched Giants film to prepare for what a Brian Daboll-led offense might look like with the Titans, with the former Big Blue head coach about to start his first season in Tennessee.