When the 2024 NFL season ended, Anders Carlson was the kicker for the New York Jets, but he won’t be returning for 2025 after surprisingly getting released on Wednesday.
Carlson was expected to compete for the starting kicking job this year, but now he’s not even going to make it to training camp. Carlson spent five games with the Jets last season and although he came up with some big field goals, he also missed four kicks during his short stint (two extra points and two field goals). Overall, Carlson hit 80% of his field goals, but just 81.8% of his extra points.
The release of Carlson was the second surprising move that the Jets have made on special teams this year. They also dumped veteran punter Thomas Morstead, who was quickly scooped up by the San Francisco 49ers. With Carlson and Morstead both gone, that means the punting job and the kicking job will both be up for grabs in this year. The two competitions will feature a total of four players who have zero experience in the NFL, so let’s take a closer look at the two battles.
Davis was added to the Jets’ roster in May after signing as an undrafted free agent. The former Ole Miss kicker was a finalist for the Lou Groza award after a 2024 season where he hit 82.8% of his field goal attempts for the Rebels. Davis came up in the clutch multiple times for Ole Miss, including an October game at LSU where he hit a 57-yard field goal to put the Rebels up 26-23 in overtime (Ole Miss would end up losing 29-26).
Although Davis was accurate from 50 yards and in during his time at Ole Miss, the Jets will almost certainly want to test his range during training camp. Over the past two seasons, Davis hit just 50% of his kicks from over 50 yards.
Davis had been battling with Carlson for the kicking job, but with Carlson gone, he’ll now be competing with Harrison Mevis, who you might know better as “The Thiccer Kicker.” Mevis was signed on Wednesday shortly after Carlson was cut.
Although Mevis doesn’t have any NFL experience, he has been through an NFL training camp. After going undrafted in 2024, the former Missouri kicker signed as an undrafted free agent with the Carolina Panthers. Mevis stuck around for the first few weeks of training camp before being cut in mid-August. Mevis only got one preseason field goal attempt with the Panthers last season and he drilled it from 41 yards out.
Mevis didn’t find an NFL job last season, but he did latch on with the Birmingham Stallions. During his lone season in the UFL, Mevis hit an impressive 95.2% of his kicks (20 of 21) and he’ll now look to follow in the footsteps of Brandon Aubrey. The Cowboys kicker started his professional football career with the Stallions before making the jump to the NFL and he’s now one of the best kickers in the league, if not the best.
The Thiccer Kicker has a booming leg and he showed it off at Missouri. His career long kick was a 61-yard game-winner against Kansas State in 2023.
He showed off a powerful leg at Missouri, but he only hit 50% of his field goals from beyond 40 yards during his final year with the Tigers. However, he seemed to put those long-distance struggles behind him in the UFL where six of his 20 makes came from 50 yards or longer.
The Jets could still add another kicker before training camp, but for now it will be Davis vs. Mevis for the team’s kicking job.
Prediction (Assuming no other kickers are added to the battle): Mevis wins the job
Most people don’t get too excited when they read the words “punting battle,” but this is a competition that will be worth watching because it features one of college football’s best punters from 2023 (McNamara) going up against one of the best from 2024 (Kroeger).
McNamara was a star at Texas Tech where he set a school record with an average of 48.2 yards per punt in 2021. During his final season as a Red Raider in 2023, he had another strong year, averaging 46.3 yards per punt. Over the course of his college career, he had eight punts that went for 60 yards or more, including a career-long 87-yarder in 2020.
And he doesn’t just have a booming leg. He also gets solid hang time and can put the ball where he’s asked to place it, which is a big reason why he was the Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Year in 2023 (He was also PFF’s third-highest graded punter during the 2023 college season.)
McNamara was signed by the Bengals as an undrafted free agent last season, but he was released in August.
Although McNamara was impressive in college, Kroeger was just as good during his five seasons at South Carolina. In 2024, Kroeger was one of the best punters in the country. Not only did he rank third in the nation with an average of 47.8 yards per punt, but he also pinned his opponent inside their 20-yard line on 18 of his 47 punts.
Kroeger came up huge in South Carolina’s 17-14 win over Clemson back in November. He averaged 46.6 yards per punt during a game where he also pinned the Tigers inside their own 12-yard line a total of three times. That field position advantage was a big reason why South Carolina was able to pull off the upset win.
Kroeger can also be a secret weapon for the Jets: During his college career, Kroeger completed 7 of 10 passes for 205 yards and three touchdowns.
New Jets special teams coordinator Chris Banjo is going to have a tough decision to make, but we’ll try to make it for him.
Prediction: Kroeger wins the job
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