New York Jets Make Roster Decision on Struggling Special Teams Star

The New York Jets made a decision on what to do with their struggling placekicker before Thursday’s game with Houston.

East Rutherford, NJ -- September 29 -- A field goal by Greg Zuerlein of the Jets in the first half as the Denver Broncos edged the New York Jets 10-9 at MetLife Stadium. / Chris Pedota, NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The New York Jets finally made a decision about their struggling kicker, Greg Zuerlein. What happens next — for Zuerlein and the position — is undecided.

The Jets (2-6) placed Zuerlein on injured reserve on Wednesday taking him off the roster for the next several weeks due to an injury to his left knee. He was added to the injury report on Tuesday.

Because of that, he can’t play in Thursday’s game against the Houston Texans (6-2). So the Jets need a new kicker.

New York signed two kickers to the practice squad on Wednesday — Riley Patterson and Spencer Shrader. The Jets will have to elevate one or both before the game.

That puts a pause on the pressure on Zuerlein, who is having the worst season of his long career.

Zuerlein is 9-for-15 on field goals, and his 60% conversion rate is his worst since he went 66.7% in 2015. This came 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.

Moving him to IR gives him time to work through the knee injury and it also gives him time to work through some of the mechanical issues that he said has led to the misses. It also means the Jets won’t have to eat the remaining guaranteed money on his deal — for now.

It also gives either Patterson or Shrader the chance to make the move permanent. They were part of a group of several kickers that went through a competition on Tuesday at Met Life Stadium, along with Zane Gonzalez, Brayden Narveson, Andre Szmyt and Cade York.

Patterson is the more experienced kicker and is more likely to get the nod on Thursday. He’s kicked with five NFL teams and has made 88% of his field goals (59-of-67). He is 96% on extra points (93-of-97). He is a solid 19-of-25 from 40-plus yards away.

Shrader was an undrafted free agent earlier this year who played in the season opener for Indianapolis for the injured Matt Gay. He made three extra points and was later released.

In college with USF and Notre Dame he was a combined 43-of-62 on field goals, 61-of-62 on extra points and had a career-long of 54 yards.

While Zuerlein isn’t the Jets’ only issue, his misses have been the margin of loss in three games this season.

Against the Patriots on Sunday he missed an extra point and a 44-yard field-goal attempt. 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.