Kicker Sergio Castillo Might Get the Nod for the New York Jets in Week 7
Sergio Castillo may be the New York Jets kicker this weekend if Sam Ficken is unable to play.
Ficken suffered a groin injury on Wednesday that might keep him out this Sunday against the Buffalo Bills. In his second season with the Jets, Ficken has been very solid in terms of kicking and kickoff duty.
If Ficken is unable to play, then it is likely that Castillo gets bumped-up from the practice squad. He was signed last week as a free agent.
“Well that’s why they did it, just in case something happened with the protocols and how much time it takes,” Jets head coach Adam Gase said on Thursday in his virtual press conference.
“If something like this happened mid-week we needed to have somebody available to us, that’s why he can do both kicking and punting. If something happened, this is what it was for, but it was more thinking COVID, but this was the emergency plan.”
Gase said that Ficken’s groin tightened-up in practice on Wednesday and called him “day-to-day.”
In Week 6, Ficken missed his first field goal of the season. He is in his second season with the Jets.
As for Castillo, he has yet to play in the NFL but is coming off a very solid 2019 season in the Canadian Football League (CFL) with the BC Lions. He made 41-of-45 field goals including a season-high 52-yard attempt.
He can also punt, with a 41.1 average on 20 punts last season.
Since being with the Atlanta Falcons in 2014 preseason, Castillo has been exclusively with the CFL until this past year when he signed with the XFL. He played in five games with the Houston Roughnecks, making all five field goal attempts. He then signed with the CFL’s Lions this past year but chose to opt-out of the season. It proved fortuitous as he signed with the Jets practice squad last week.
