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Factoid

Greg Zuerlein

Zuerlein off to rocky start with Jets

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)
PlayerXP-XPAFG-FGAPct
Justin Tucker84-8561-6696.0
Matt Gay64-6546-5095.7
Younghoe Koo63-6664-6894.8
Cairo Santos63-6556-6293.7
Daniel Carlson75-8073-7893.7
Graham Gano38-4060-6593.3
Tyler Bass108-11056-6693.2
Robbie Gould75-7839-4691.9
Jake Elliott68-7044-5291.8
Harrison Butker95-10350-5591.8
Jason Sanders70-7159-7091.5
Chris Boswell61-6755-6091.3
Jason Myers93-10041-4791.2
Nick Folk72-8062-6791.2
Ryan Succop108-11653-6191.0
Mason Crosby108-11441-5090.9
Zane Gonzalez60-6236-4490.6
• Matthew Wright20-2225-2890.0
• Rodrigo Blankenship50-5343-5189.4
Randy Bullock66-7047-5789.0
Dustin Hopkins70-7657-6888.2
Brandon McManus57-6154-6588.1
• Cody Parkey46-5219-2287.8
Matt Prater85-9051-6587.7
• Michael Badgley76-8042-5587.4
• Chase McLaughlin41-4319-2687.0
Ka'imi Fairbairn50-5642-5086.8
Joey Slye51-5852-6186.6
Greg Zuerlein75-8463-7686.3

—Ian Allan

Fantasy Index