Believe it or not, Greg Zuerlein is back as the New York Jets kicker.
Interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich announced the surprising news on Friday, December 27.
“It’s going to be Greg. Greg is going to kick for us [against the Buffalo Bills]. So he came back, looked healthy, kicked the ball well this week, so he will be our guy going forward here,” Ulbrich explained.
Zuerlein was placed on injured reserve ahead of the Week 9 Thursday Night Football game against the Houston Texans with a mysterious injury. Before being placed on IR, Zuerlein had struggled mightily. On the season he is 9-of-15 on his field goal attempts. Those six misses were the most in the NFL when he was placed on injured reserve.
Zuerlein Has One Last Chance to Save Jets Career
Candidly the Jets should have cut bait and moved on from Zuerlein. He showed signs in the offseason of not having the same stuff. That trickled into the regular season and cost the Jets multiple games.
By the time the team finally had the gonads to do something about it, the season was already lost. Instead of dumping Zuerlein, the team placed him on IR which put him on the shelf for a minimum of four games.
It was a tactic used by the team to allow Zuerlein to reset mentally with the chance to return later in the season.
The Jets handed Zuerlein a two-year deal for $8.4 million this offseason which included $4.2 million fully guaranteed. That was the largest contract the Jets had ever given out to a placekicker.
Zuerlein had one of the best kicking seasons a Jets special teamer had ever had. He converted 35 of his 38 makes, was reliable, and delivered in the clutch. All of that disappeared when he played for the Jets in 2024.
If the Jets would have released Zuerlein months after giving him a record-breaking contract they would have received egg on their face. Plus they would have been left with a $4.1 million dead cap charge.
So with two games left to go this season, Zuerlein has a chance to redeem himself – at least somewhat. The Jets season is lost and they have been long since eliminated from the playoffs, but Zuerlein can create some positive momentum for himself heading into 2025.
Coach Speaks Out About Zuerlein Struggles
Ulbrich said the injury that popped up for Zuerlein that placed him on IR was not something he had been dealing with all season.
“No, the injury was something that just popped up. I don’t think it was lingering unless he was keeping that to himself which I don’t think he would. He would have had no reason to. He had his struggles, as we all have, from coaching to playing across the board this year. It has been a case of we had the talent we just underperformed,” Ulbrich explained.
Ulbrich said the mental reset Zuerlein got over the last couple of months can be “really powerful.” Will it bring back Greg the Leg from last year? Or Legatron from the past? The proof will be in the pudding.
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