Eagles Displaying Vote Of Confidence In Jake Elliott Amidst Struggles

Jake Elliott used to be ol' reliable for the Philadelphia Eagles.

The past two seasons? Not so much.

Elliott went from one of the elite kickers in the game to one of teh worst -- seemingly overnight. The Eagles haven't brought in competition for Elliott this offseason in free agency or the draft, nor plan to in the coming weeks.

"Still confident in him," Eagles special teams coach Michael Clay said. "You could go game by game, situation by situation, but nobody really wants to hear any of that. Everybody wants to know, what have you done for me last?

"But for Jake, 10 years in the NFL, 10 years to do it in Philadelphia, big kicks, hard to go against a confidence in that."

Elliott has hit just 48-of-63 field goals over the past two years, as the 76.2% field goal conversion is ranked 20th of 21 players with 50+ field goal attempts. Elliott is also 5-for-his-last-15 on field goal attempts of 50+ yards, a 33.3% conversaion rate.

"Is everybody going to jump on the bandwagon to beat a dead horse? No,' Clay said. "Jake's going to be his hardest critic of all time. It's for me as a coach to bring him up and keep the confidence in him because when he's confident, a confident kicker is a dangerous kicker.

"So, for him, it's just getting back to his basics, getting back to his routine and falling in love with the game again."

Part of the reason the Eagles haven't brought in competition for Elliott is because of his contract. Elliott signed a four-year, $24 million contract with the Eagles in 2024, but the deal was reworked this offseason. Elliott took a pay decrease from $6 million to $5 million -- yet that $5 million in guaranteed.

His cap number is $4.65 million in 2026 and $5.17 million in 2027, with $18.2 million in dead money tired up to Elliott over teh next two years. Basically, Elliott is here to stay.

The solution for the Eagles? Help Elliott figure it out.

:For a lot of these players, whatever bad things happen, they fall into that pit hole of like, "Am I good enough," Clay said. "Obviously, you're good enough to play in the NFL. There's only 32 kickers in the NFL or vice versa. There's only 64 starting DNs.

"So for him to fall in love with the game again and keep that energy and keep that confidence up, I think is going to be huge for Jake. That's where I come in being his caddy and keeping him up in all those situations."

Perhaps making a few long kicks on a consistent basis will help Elliott fall in love with the game again, as his struggles correlate to his missed opportunities. Elliott used to be one of the best kickers in the game, and still has his clutch gene -- evidenced by his 2024 postseason and Super Bowl LIX.

This seaosn is massive for Elliott and the Eagles. Elliott may get just one more opportunity to figure things out.

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