Embattled New York Jets Veteran on Injury Report as Replacements Compete

The process to determine if the New York Jets will make a change at kicker received a new wrinkle.

East Rutherford, NJ -- October 14, 2024 -- Head coach Jeff Ulbrich and Greg Zuerlein of the Jets during pre game warm ups. The Buffalo Bills came to MetLife Stadium to play the NY Jets. The Jets played their first game under new interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich. / Chris Pedota, NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The New York Jets placed their kicker, Greg Zuerlein, on the injury report with a left knee injury, a new wrinkle in what is a major competition to determine who will be their kicker for Thursday’s game with the Houston Texans.

Zuerlein was listed as a limited participate in Thursday’s workout. The injury is on his plant leg, as the veteran kicks with his right foot. It’s not clear how much Zuerlein did at practice.

Meanwhile, the Jets had another round of auditions for placekicker, this one more extensive than interim coach Jeff Ulbrich originally indicated.

On Monday he said the team would have two kickers go to MetLife Stadium to compete. As reported by NFL Network’s Mike Garofalo, the number swelled to seven — Zane Gonzalez, Brayden Narveson, Riley Patterson, Spencer Shrader, Andre Szmyt and Cade York.

Patterson and York worked out for the Jets a few weeks ago.

Zuerlein’s injury was unexpected, given that he came out of the New England game fine and worked out on Monday. It’s likely he suffered some sort of injury during Monday’s workout.

If his injury is one that will hamper his ability to kick on Thursday, then the Jets will need to choose a kicker for the Texans game, a move that would most likely lead to Zuerlein’s release. Most NFL teams only carry one placekicker.

Even if he’s healthy for Thursday’s game, New York may choose to go in a new direction given his recent performances.

Zuerlein has the worst field-goal percentage of any kicker in the NFL as he is 9-for-15. This year he is just 60%, his worst since he went 66.7% in 2015.

This comes after two quality seasons for the Jets in which he 30-for-37 in 2022 and 35-for-38 in 2023. For his career he is a 82.2% kicker.

While the veteran kicker is by no means the only issue for the Jets, he has come up short in critical moments this season.

Against the Patriots he missed an extra point in the first quarter and missed a 44-yard field-goal attempt in the fourth quarter. It put the Jets in a position to have to go for a two-point conversion while up five points on the Patriots in the final three minutes. The conversion failed and New England rallied to win.

Against Denver in Week 4 Zuerlein missed a 50-yarder that would have won the game. The Jets lost that game, 10-9, but he accounted for all nine of New York’s points that day.

Then, two weeks later against Buffalo, he went 2-for-4 on field goals and missed two in the second half that could have given the Jets the lead. In fact, had he made both kicks, the Jets would have beaten the Bills.