If there's one thing to take away from the Atlanta Falcons' Week 8 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that doesn't involve Michael Penix Jr.'s four-interception disaster or the historically bad numbers they gave up on the ground, it's that the Falcons have a major issue brewing in regards to kicker Nick Folk.
The Falcons signed Folk to a two-year, $9 million deal in free agency thinking he'd be the answer to their long-standing kicker woes, but instead, he's been worse. Despite missing just three field goals combined across the last three seasons, he's already missed four through eight games in Atlanta.
In the 16-0 shutout loss to the Bucs, Folk missed his first field goal since Week 2 against the Panthers, and it was a bad one. On the opening drive, they had him attempt a kick from 53 yards out in the rainy conditions, but not only did he miss wide left, he didn't even come close to drilling that kick.
Folk kicks it wide in the rain
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) November 1, 2026
📺: FOX/FOX One pic.twitter.com/M5EHPlGODz
This miss was so bad that it made it clear that Atlanta is losing faith in him--even with the elements. Down by six in the second quarter, they instead opted to go for it on fourth-and-six rather than allow Folk to kick a 49-yard field goal, and Michael Penix Jr. threw his third pick of the first half on that play.
The primary issue that Nick Folk has presented the Atlanta Falcons
There were other instances where the Dirty Birds went for it on fourth-and-short rather than trust their new kicker, and it's clear Ironically enough, he drilled a 56-yard game-winner against the Falcons in the rain with the Jets last season, but now that he changed uniforms, his reliability is all but gone.
In the modern NFL, we have kickers drilling from 55, 60, and even 65 yards consistently, yet the Falcons can't even trust their kicker to drill a kick from beyond 50 yards? Nick Folk's calling card has always been his reliability, but as Father Time starts to catch up to him, it's clear he doesn't have the same leg power he used to to convert further kicks.
It's insane, because three of his four missed field goals this season have come from long-range, after making seven of eight from 50+ as a Jet in 2025. It makes it harder for the offense to call plays because they don't have a Brandon Aubrey or Cam Little who will bail them out whenever they need it.
More often than not, the Dirty Birds are forced to go for it rather than trusting Folk to attempt a field goal from anywhere longer than 55 yards. And when they don't convert, it sets the opposing offense up with better field position and makes it that much harder for Jeff Ulbrich's defense to get a stop.
And with that in mind, it feels all but inevitable he won't be the kicker in A-Town next season.
Nick Folk will more than likely not be the Atlanta Falcons' kicker in 2027
The Falcons signed Folk for $4.5 million a year and made him the 10th-highest paid kicker in the NFL, this past offseason, but thankfully, Ian Cunningham didn't sign a 41-year-old kicker without contingencies in anticipation that some regression could possibly surface this season.
While this is officially a two-year deal, it's more like a one-year contract in terms of the payout. If the Falcons were to release Nick Folk this season, it'd come with $4 million in dead cap compared to just $1.25 million next season, so Cunningham added an out in his deal that makes it easier to do so.
This contract essentially moonlights as a one-year, $4.51 million contract, and since there is no real dead cap penalty for releasing him this offseason, they're more than likely going to see things through with him for the rest of this season before searching for his long-term successor in due time.
And while you can say the veteran deserves a pass for missing a kick in inclement weather, all season long the regression has been noticeable--and it seems as though a reckoning is coming after they were expecting him to be one of the Falcons' most important free-agent pickups in 2026.
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