Jets UDFA Can Take Early Lead in Position Battle at Minicamp

Rookie minicamp is set to get underway later this week for the New York Jets at Florham Park, as head coach Aaron Glenn and the rest of his staff will get the chance to see this year’s rookie class up close.

While many Gang Green fans are excited to see how this year’s draft class looks in their first practice reps with the team, they’ll also be watching to see which undrafted free agents will rise to the occasion and push for a roster spot.

One position that will be under a microscope is kicker, with Nick Folk moving on in free agency. Undrafted free agent Will Ferrin will be one of three kickers on the 90-man roster looking to steal the starting job.

Will Ferrin has puncher's chance to win starting kicker job over next few months

It won’t be easy for Ferrin, as the Jets also signed Cade York to a one-year contract earlier this offseason and have Lenny Krieg on a futures/reserve deal.

Krieg spent last season on the Atlanta Falcons practice squad as an IPP (International Pathway Program) player. While he has never kicked in an NFL game, he has kicked in the German Football League and the European League of Football.

He shouldn’t be completely boxed out of the competition, but the odds are that Ferrin will face off against York. In our initial 53-man roster projection following the NFL draft, I had Ferrin pulling the upset and winning the starting job.

The former BYU kicker is coming off a solid last two seasons, where he led the Big 12 in scoring with 113 and 118 points, respectively. Ferrin also possesses a big leg, making 8-of-11 attempts from 50-plus yards out over that span.

However, Ferrin did have some slight issues from 40-49 yards this past year, going 2-of-7. But the hope is that was an anomaly because in Ferrin’s first two seasons with the Cougars, he was 12-of-14 from that distance.

On the other side of the coin, York is coming off a year where he did not kick the ball. In fact, the last time we saw him kick in the regular season, it wasn’t great.

The 25-year-old York converted 69.2% of his field goals (9-of-13) between the Cincinnati Bengals and Washington Commanders. For his career, York is a 73.3% kicker on field goals, which is a far cry from what the Jets got from Folk last year.

That being said, the door is wide open for Ferrin to run with this opportunity. However, it starts with putting on a good first impression at rookie minicamp. If he’s consistent, that should carry over to mandatory minicamp and hopefully into training camp, where anything can happen.

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