After a slow start to his time with the Atlanta Falcons, Nick Folk is proving that age truly is just a number. In his 20th NFL season, he's still drilling field goals like he's in his 20s, and it's why we needed to remain patient in the 41-year-old after missing three field goals in his first two games of 2026.
That's what makes what he's doing so impressive. He made just three of his first six field goal attempts as a Falcon, yet across the last few weeks, he's turned things around, going a perfect 6-of-6 on field goals and has yet to miss an extra point in 2026. Who said Father Time was coming for him?
However, it would be a lie to say that there hasn't been noticeable regression in his game, especially from anything longer than 50 yards. Folk is just 1-of-3 from long-range, as he doesn't have the same power to drill kicks from 50 or even 60 yards out as if he was someone like Cam Little or Will Reichard.
FanSided's own Adam Fromal recognizes that deficiency in Folk's game, so he placed him 15th in his kicker rankings--but he was still quick to praise the guy given he's one of the oldest players on an active roster, so of course that power fades over time--but he still has some redeeming qualities.
"There's a reason I preached patience after Nick Folk opened the Falcons portion of his career in brutal fashion with misses from 45 and 54 in the season opener and a mishit 53-yarder in the follow-up contest," Fromal wrote. "Since then, he's gone 6-of-6 and is putting his kicks straight down Main Street. The 41-year-old doesn't have enough power left in his right leg to consistently convert the true bombs that are proliferating throughout the modern NFL, but he's a relentlessly reliable option who has shown no real signs of an imminent drop-off in production."
We could be in 2050 with flying Teslas and sentient AI taking over the planet, and the ex-Pro Bowler could still be a reliable kicker. This guy has been drinking from the Fountain of Youth for years now, so even if his power from deep isn't what it once was, Folk has proven to still be a quality placekicker.
Nick Folk has finally offered the Atlanta Falcons some stability at kicker
Before signing Folk, the Falcons were in dire straits at kicker. Younghoe Koo started to regress and they rotated between him, Parker Romo, and Zane Gonzalez last season, and none of them did enough to offer them legit stability at kicker--and it was kicking that lost them several games in 2025.
But for the first time since Koo's prime years (which came during the height of the COVID pandemic) Dirty Birds finally have some stability at kicker in large part due to Nick Folk. He may not be drilling kicks from 55 or 60 yards, but having a guy you can trust to make the gimmes is just as important.
Accuracy is just as important to a kicker as having the leg strength to make kicks, so it's nice he still has this to hang his hat on even as he gets older. Eventually with age your best athletic traits will start to fade, but some traits go away, and in Folk's case, his reliability has been a blessing to the Falcons because he's accurate enough to make the kicks their old kickers couldn't despite his lack of range.
Nick Folk has been in the NFL for so long that George Bush was president when he entered the league. He only missed three kicks from 50+ yards from 2023-2025. Eventually regression was bound to hit, but he's still managed to help the Falcons end the revolving door at kickers without elite range.
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