Jake Elliott’s grip on the Eagles’ kicking job is as secure as it’s been in years, but the case for some real pressure is getting harder to ignore.
The veteran is coming off a rough season by his standards, hitting just 20 of 27 field goals for a 71.4% mark that landed near the bottom of the NFL. It was the second-worst field-goal percentage of his first nine seasons, and the decline was especially noticeable from distance. After going 15 of 17 on kicks from 50 yards and beyond from 2021 to 2023, Elliott has made only 5 of 15 over the last two seasons.
He also missed an extra point in the Eagles’ 23-19 wild-card loss to the San Francisco 49ers in January.
Still, Philadelphia has shown no interest in moving on. The Eagles reworked Elliott’s contract in a give-and-take deal that included a $1 million pay cut for him and a fully guaranteed $5 million in 2026. That kind of structure says plenty, and the team has backed it up by not bringing in competition.
That confidence comes from a long track record the Eagles trust. Elliott has kicked in eight different postseasons, three Super Bowls and the only two Lombardi Trophy-winning seasons in franchise history.
In 16 playoff games, he has made 28 of 29 field goals, a 96.6% rate. Nine of those makes came in the Eagles’ three Super Bowl appearances.
His biggest stage performance came in Super Bowl LIX, when he tied a Super Bowl record with four field goals and broke Don Chandler’s 57-year-old mark for the most points in the game with 16.
"I think that Jake has been a tremendous kicker for us since we got him off the practice squad in Cincinnati in 2017," Roseman said this offseason. "Tremendously clutch. Have a lot of confidence in him as a player, as a kicker, as a person, a captain on our team and continue to believe in him as our placekicker."
Even so, there’s a practical argument for giving Elliott some kind of push. The Eagles did bring in former Marshall and North Carolina kicker Rece Verhoff for a tryout during rookie camp, but they chose not to sign him. With rosters at 90 players this time of year, a specialist like Verhoff might have been more useful as a daily challenge for Elliott than as extra depth at another position.
The idea is simple: competition, even if it’s only nominal, can sharpen a kicker’s edge. Elliott is known as one of the most competitive players in the locker room, whether it’s golf, table tennis or softball. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio even joked on “Exciting Mics” that he wants nothing to do with Elliott on the links.
The Eagles may be standing by their kicker, but the expectation is clear. If the production slips again, the next option is only a phone call away.
"With Jake, obviously long career, still confident in him," special teams coordinator Michael Clay said. "You could go game by game, situation by situation, but nobody really wants to hear any of that.
Everybody wants to know, what have you done for me last? But for Jake, 10 years in the NFL, 10 years to do it in Philadelphia, big kicks, hard to go against a confidence in that."
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