The New York Jets have finally made a decision.
Brian Costello of the New York Post shared on X that the Jets have waived placekicker Blake Grupe and replaced him with Jason Sanders on the 53-man roster.
Sanders had been on the practice squad. In each of the first three weeks of the season, the Jets have elevated him for the games on Sunday. However, after the Week 3 loss to the Detroit Lions, Sanders ran out of elevations. So if the Jets wanted to keep trotting Sanders out there on the field, they were forced to sign him to the active roster.
The Jets later confirmed the news on social media.
Tip of the Cap to the Veteran
It has been a wild roller coaster this offseason for Jets kickers.
They started with veteran Nick Folk and over the past seven months bounced between 10 kickers, give or take. After Sanders shanked an extra point and shorted a 50-plus-yard field goal attempt in the preseason finale, it appeared the carousel would continue to spin.
He was released and replaced by Grupe, but interestingly, he was brought back on the practice squad. Apparently, Grupe must have struggled during practice because ahead of Week 1 the Jets went back to Sanders.
It didn’t start great with Sanders missing a 54-yard field goal, but credit to him, he overcame that mistake. This season, through the first three games, Sanders is 5-of-6 on his field goal attempts, and he is a perfect 5-for-5 on his extra point attempts:
- 2-for-2 (30-39 yards)
- 1-for-1 (40-49 yards)
- 2-of-3 (50+ yards)
“A seventh-round pick (No. 229 overall) of Miami in the 2018 NFL Draft, Sanders, a New Mexico product, ranks No. 3 in Dolphins franchise history with 826 points. His 84.6% field-goal percentage is the highest (minimum 50 attempts) in team annals, and his 221 field goals are second only to Olindo Mare,” Jets senior reporter Eric Allen wrote in a press release.
Jets Are Starting to Garner Some Respect
The Jets are 1-2 on the season. They have had multiple chances to be 2-1, and maybe, if you squint, 3-0 if a ball had bounced in a different direction over the last two weeks, but alas.
Despite that record, the Jets surged up seven spots in Nick Shook’s NFL power rankings for the NFL Media Group heading into Week 4.
“I don’t believe in moral victories, but I do think teams can find positives in close losses. After the Week 2 nightmare at MetLife Stadium, the Jets had plenty to be proud of in Sunday’s road defeat. Sure, they gave up 31 to Detroit (just like the last two defenses that faced the Lions), but they battled back from a two-touchdown deficit in the fourth quarter to give themselves a legitimate chance to win in the Motor City. That’s much, much more than we could have said about the Jets in recent years,” Shook wrote.
The Jets are a different football team in 2026 than they were in 2025. There are positives to take away from the losses, but eventually the rubber has to meet the road. These efforts have to transform into winning sooner rather than later if the team truly has taken a step forward.
Jets Forced to Make Signing as Time Expired After Lions Game