Nick Folk: Stay or Go? Part 1: Introduction

A product of the University of Arizona, Nick Folk spent his first three seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, the team that selected him in the sixth round of the 2007 NFL Draft. His career got off to an excellent start in his rookie campaign. Folk made the All Pro and Pro Bowl teams his first year as a professional. He was actually better in some ways during his second season in which he connected on over 90% of his field goal tries.

He underwent hip surgery following that second season. Nick felt he did not recover quickly, and the operation messed up his mechanics in 2009 in which he still felt the injury and overcompensated. No matter what happened, Folk had a bad third year in the league in which he only made 64.3% of his field goals. The Cowboys by this point had taken him off kickoffs, which were dreadfully short and cut him with a few weeks left in the season.

The Jets signed him in the offseason, presumably to be training camp fodder. Then the team let Jay Feely walk to Arizona, presumably in part to give the team room to sign a free agent under final eight rules, which turned out to be Jason Taylor. The team surprisingly did not bring in much competition for Folk, and Nick got the job, which he kept for the entire 2010 season.

Now Folk is a free agent. Do the Jets stick with him or get a new kicker?