The Falcons’ kicking problem has gone from annoying to impossible to ignore, and Nick Folk’s latest miss only sharpened the issue.
Atlanta signed the 42-year-old this offseason hoping to steady a spot that had been a headache all last year. At the time, the move barely registered. Kickers usually stay out of the spotlight unless they blow a game, and Folk arrived with a strong recent track record: over the previous three seasons, he had missed only three field goals and led the league in kicking accuracy each year.
That looked like a safe bet then. It looks a lot shakier now.
Sunday against the Bengals brought another miss, this one from inside 40 yards. It was Folk’s first miss from that range since 2017, and it pushed him to five missed field goals through the first nine games. He has converted just 18 of 25 attempts, a 72.2% success rate that would be his worst since his time with the Dallas Cowboys in 2009.
Age alone isn’t the whole story. Plenty of veteran kickers can hang around and still do the job. The problem here is the accuracy has fallen off too far, too fast, and that usually signals the end is close.
The Falcons should have treated the offseason kicking search like a longer-term fix instead of a short-term patch. Instead, they brought in a veteran at the back end of his career, and now the move has run its course.
Atlanta has already shown it’s thinking about what comes next, trading Jessie Bates III to the Jaguars as part of that future-focused approach. With eight games left, the Falcons ought to use the rest of the season as a live audition for younger kickers who might help beyond this year. At this point, it’s hard to argue a new option could be any worse than what they’ve gotten from Folk.
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Ravens Lose A Specialist As Another Team Scrambles For Answers
The Falcons have made another change at kicker, releasing veteran Nick Folk and bringing Jake Moody onto the 53-man roster from the Ravens practice squad. It is the latest move in a spot that has become hard to trust, and it gives Atlanta a fresh leg as it tries to steady one of the games most unforgiving jobs.
Moody arrives with prior NFL experience and a track record that includes the ability to connect from long range, which is part of what makes him an intriguing answer for Atlanta right now. Folks recent misses had put the team in a bind, and the Falcons are clearly hoping this swap brings more certainty when they get into field-goal range. [Read more 🡒]