I see Robert Saleh is grumbling about Greg Zuerlein missing a field goal and an extra point in New York’s opener, and about being second-guessed for the decision to keep Zuerlein over Eddy Pineiro. But Saleh really has nobody to blame but himself.
Zuerlein, after all, has been the least accurate kicker in the league over the last two seasons. Both the Rams and Cowboys have moved on from Zuerlein in recent years.
It was a surprise in the offseason when the Jets signed him to a one-year contract worth $2.7 million. That $300,000 more than Eddy Pineiro, who made all 8 of his field goals last year and 9 of his 10 extra points. Pineiro was perfect on opening day for Carolina.
“We’re missing kicks, we’re missing extra points. We’re not going to win a football game [like that],” Saleh said. “It’s impossible to win against a veteran team when you move the ball the way we [did] and you come up empty-handed, time and time again like we did today.”
But Zuerlein’s performance was in line with how he’s played in recent years. He converted only 73 percent of his field goals back in 2019, and he’s closed at 83 percent in each of his last two seasons. And he’s missed 9 extra points over the last two years – he just hasn’t been accurate.
Over the last two years, 29 kickers have attempted at least 50 kickers, and Zuerlein has been the least accurate of all of them. There are five other kickers (tagged with black dots) who have been more accurate than Zuerlein the last two years who aren’t currently even on rosters. It will be a surprise, I think, if Zuerlein makes it through the season. I’m not sure he’ll even make it to the end of the month (those Zuerlein replica jerseys in the team’s pro shop – maybe a good idea to put them on the discount rack).
| KICKING ACCURACY (last 2 years) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | XP-XPA | FG-FGA | Pct | |
| Justin Tucker | 84-85 | 61-66 | 96.0 | |
| Matt Gay | 64-65 | 46-50 | 95.7 | |
| Younghoe Koo | 63-66 | 64-68 | 94.8 | |
| Cairo Santos | 63-65 | 56-62 | 93.7 | |
| Daniel Carlson | 75-80 | 73-78 | 93.7 | |
| Graham Gano | 38-40 | 60-65 | 93.3 | |
| Tyler Bass | 108-110 | 56-66 | 93.2 | |
| Robbie Gould | 75-78 | 39-46 | 91.9 | |
| Jake Elliott | 68-70 | 44-52 | 91.8 | |
| Harrison Butker | 95-103 | 50-55 | 91.8 | |
| Jason Sanders | 70-71 | 59-70 | 91.5 | |
| Chris Boswell | 61-67 | 55-60 | 91.3 | |
| Jason Myers | 93-100 | 41-47 | 91.2 | |
| Nick Folk | 72-80 | 62-67 | 91.2 | |
| Ryan Succop | 108-116 | 53-61 | 91.0 | |
| Mason Crosby | 108-114 | 41-50 | 90.9 | |
| Zane Gonzalez | 60-62 | 36-44 | 90.6 | |
| • Matthew Wright | 20-22 | 25-28 | 90.0 | |
| • Rodrigo Blankenship | 50-53 | 43-51 | 89.4 | |
| Randy Bullock | 66-70 | 47-57 | 89.0 | |
| Dustin Hopkins | 70-76 | 57-68 | 88.2 | |
| Brandon McManus | 57-61 | 54-65 | 88.1 | |
| • Cody Parkey | 46-52 | 19-22 | 87.8 | |
| Matt Prater | 85-90 | 51-65 | 87.7 | |
| • Michael Badgley | 76-80 | 42-55 | 87.4 | |
| • Chase McLaughlin | 41-43 | 19-26 | 87.0 | |
| Ka'imi Fairbairn | 50-56 | 42-50 | 86.8 | |
| Joey Slye | 51-58 | 52-61 | 86.6 | |
| Greg Zuerlein | 75-84 | 63-76 | 86.3 | |
—Ian Allan