The Atlanta Falcons have dealt with kicker issues for the better part of the last two seasons, and it seemed like things were finally on the right track to end last season. In just nine games after replacing Younghoe Koo and Parker Romo, Zane Gonzalez finally offered some much-needed stability at kicker.
Gonzalez drilled 19 of his 22 field goals as a Falcon, including seven of nine from long range--and was even named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week on two separate occasions. However, they chose to let him walk in free agency to sign Nick Folk, a decision that has aged horribly this year.
In the 34-17 loss to the Bengals in Week 9, Folk missed a 38-yard field goal that killed any hopes of the Falcons coming back. And while it was his first miss inside 40 yards since 2017, it was his fifth miss on the season despite missing just one kick in total with the New York Jets a season ago.
The 42-year-old was so unreliable that after the loss in Week 9, Atlanta had enough. On Tuesday, he finally got released--albeit the news came a couple of weeks later than fans would have liked, as Jake Moody was signed to the active roster from the Baltimore Ravens' practice squad to replace him..
The unfortunate truth is that the Falcons didn't even have to go through this whole rigamarole with Folk and Moody. They signed him to a two-year, $9 million deal in free agency, yet Gonzalez is making $330k as a former practice squad guy.
The Atlanta Falcons finally realized they messed up by signing Nick Folk
Let's remember the Dirty Birds made Folk the fifth-highest paid kicker in the NFL ($4.5M AAV) and forfeited a 2027 comp pick to sign him. Meanwhile, they could have saved a lot of money by running it back with Gonzalez--and this is probably the worst decision if the Ian Cunningham era to date.
And to make matters worse, Zane Gonzalez was elevated from the Miami Dolphins' practice squad this week, and drilled three of his four field goal attempts, including a 52-yard attempt Folk probably wouldn't be able to make in a 19-9 loss to the Lions.
Father Time has clearly caught up to Nick Folk. He lacks the same reliability he once had. There have been too many instances this season where the Falcons didn't trust his range from 50+ and either had to go for it on fourth down or punt it, but even the gimmes have been tough for him too.
Prior to this season, the veteran had one season with a field goal conversation rate lower than 90%, yet he's drilled just 72.2% of his attempts this season. That's similiar to the 73.5% make rate Younghoe Koo had in 2024.
Remind me again why special teams coordinator Craig Aukerman was so adamant we sign him?
At least Jake Moody is 19-of-21 (90.5%) on field goals since his exit with the 49ers and drilled one from 51 in the rain last week, but if we knew the revolving door at kicker was going to continue even after Nick Folk, they would've been better off keeping the quality kicker they had in Zane Gonzalez.
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