Chiefs Steal Jets Rookie, Team Left Scrambling for Answers

Heavy on Jets

The New York Jets are once again looking for a new kicker.

ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter shared on social media that the Kansas City Chiefs signed rookie Spencer Shrader off of the Jets practice squad. In a corresponding move, the Chiefs placed star kicker Harrison Butker on injured reserve with a “knee injury.”

Jets Lose Their Starting Kicker Ahead of Week 11

Shrader was the starting kicker for the Jets during its Week 10 matchup against the Arizona Cardinals.

He was signed to the practice squad, but the team elevated him for the game. The Jets lost to the Cardinals in blowout fashion, 31-6. Candidly, not a lot went right, but kicking did.

Shrader was 2-for-2 on his field goal attempts. Those six points were the only points the Jets scored during the game.

After the contest, Shrader reverted back to the Jets’ practice squad. The Jets don’t have a kicker on the 53-man roster.

ESPN’s Rich Cimini revealed that minutes before Shrader was stolen by the Chiefs, Jets special teams coordinator Brant Boyer was praising Shrader during his media availability.

“He handled last week’s game ‘really well … The kid’s got a lot of talent.’ And now he’s gone,” Cimini said.

The Jets could have blocked this move by the Chiefs if they had signed Shrader to the 53-man roster last week. They didn’t, so Shrader is now a member of Kansas City.

ESPN’s Rich Cimini revealed on social media that the Jets “in an attempt to keep Shrader, did offer him a spot on the 53. He opted to go kick for an undefeated team, which is understandable. However, it probably will be only a 4-game gig in KC (until Butker returns). If he had stayed with the Jets, it might have turned into something longer.”

Jets Set to Play Historic Game of Musical Chairs at the Kicker Position

With Shrader off of the team, the Jets are set to have their fourth different kicker in four weeks.

Dennis Waszak Jr of the Associated Press revealed on X previously Twitter that in Jets franchise history they have only used four kickers in a single season once. In 1979 they used Dave Jacobs, Toni Linhart, Rich Szaro, and Pat Leahy, per Waszak.

However, those four kickers weren’t used four games in a row. The last time an NFL team used different kickers in four straight games was the 2021 Detroit Lions with Austin Seibert, Ryan Santoso, Aldrick Rosas, and Riley Patterson, per Waszak.

Ironically two of those former Lions suited up for the Jets this calendar year. Perhaps that is an omen.

That leaves the Jets with only one kicker, Anders Carlson, who joined the practice squad last week.

Carlson hasn’t missed a field goal this season. He is 5-for-5 including a long of 55 yards when he was on the San Francisco 49ers filling in for an injured Jake Moody.

The Jets may want to sign Carlson to the 53-man roster so they don’t lose him to another team the way they lost Shrader. The Jets could also decide to elevate him from the practice squad ahead of its Week 11 matchup against the Indianapolis Colts.

That would temporarily put him on the roster for this week, but after the game, he would revert back to the practice squad.

The Jets have experienced kicking issues all season long. They finally find a solution in Shrader and within the same week, they have lost him. You can’t make this stuff up.