Three kickers in the building, one name that matters
The New York Jets worked out three kickers Wednesday. Michael Badgley, Joshua Karty, Justin Tucker. That third name is why anyone is paying attention.
Tucker, 36, gave Baltimore 13 seasons. Five First-Team All-Pro selections, seven Pro Bowls, a Super Bowl ring. He ranks third in league history in field-goal accuracy at 89.1 percent and 14th in made field goals with 417.
His 66-yarder in 2021 was the longest kick anyone had ever hit. Jacksonville’s Cam Little beat it twice last season. The record moved. The name still carries.
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Two years away, and a file that follows him
The reason he is available needs saying plainly. Tucker has not kicked in a game since 2024. Baltimore released him on May 5, 2025, with the NFL investigating allegations from 16 massage therapists who accused him of inappropriate conduct going back to the start of his career.
He served a 10-game suspension last season. Any team can sign him now.
The two kickers he worked out alongside carry nothing close to that résumé. Badgley, 31, has been through six teams in seven seasons: 109 makes on 131 attempts, an 83.2 percent rate, a long of 59. Karty, 24, came out of Stanford as a sixth-round pick in 2024 and lasted until November 28, 2025, when the Rams cut him. His line reads 39 for 49 across 25 games, 79.6 percent.
A job New York keeps failing to fill
This is not a minor roster item for the Jets. They released Jason Sanders, then brought him back on the practice squad. Then they claimed Blake Grupe off waivers from Indianapolis.
Grupe, 27, has 50 games between New Orleans and Indianapolis, 86 makes on 105 tries, 81.9 percent, a long of 60. Sanders spent seven years in Miami from 2018 through 2024, converted 84.6 percent of 221 attempts, and made First-Team All-Pro in 2020.
September 13 at Tennessee is the opener. Ten days. Whatever the Jets decide at kicker, they decide it now.
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