Over the next few months, we’ll be breaking down all of the players added by the Jets during free agency and in the legal tampering window. We continue today with kicker Cade York.
The 25-year old York is listed at 6’1” and 206 pounds and was a fourth round pick out of LSU in 2022. After one year as the Browns’ kicker, he failed to win the job and has subsequently played in just six games over the past three seasons, including none last year. The Jets are his seventh NFL team already.
Background
York was a two-star high school recruit and headed to LSU where he won the kicker role as a freshman, settling well into his role well after a shaky start.
He ended his first season with 21 made field goals on 27 attempts and missed just four extra points in 93 attempts as the Tigers won the national title.
In his second season, York was an all-SEC first teamer and second-team all-American as he made 18 of 21 field goals and was perfect on extra points. This included a long game winner in the game against Florida.
York’s junior season was almost as good and he earned second-team all-SEC honors. At the end of the year, he opted to forego the 2022 season and enter the NFL draft.
The Browns selected York in the fourth round and he was given their starting kicker role. An early season 58-yard game winner, tying a franchise record for the longest field goal of all time, got him off to a good start. In the end, though, he was inconsistent, missing 10 total kicks.
He was still expected to retain the role in 2023, but a poor preseason campaign led to him being cut and he didn’t play in an NFL game all year despite spending time with the Giants and Titans.
In 2024, York’s career looked to be back on track as he won the Commanders’ job following a preseason trade from the Browns, who had re-signed him that March. However, he missed both his field goal attempts in his debut with them and was immediately released.
He later got another chance with the Bengals, kicking in five games down the stretch. This didn’t go too badly as he made 9 of 11 field goals and 14 of 15 extra points. That included a franchise-record tying 59-yarder. However, he also missed a potential game-winner and, even though the Bengals still won the game, wasn’t retained.
York didn’t get an opportunity to kick in 2025, spending less than a month on the Saints’ practice squad and otherwise being on the street.
The Jets added him early on in free agency in response to Nick Folk signing elsewhere but he was available and could have been signed at any time since mid-December.
Now let’s break York down in a variety of categories, based on in-depth research and film study.
Measurables/Athleticism
York is not particuarly big but according to members of the LSU coaching staff was a good athlete who participated in every workout. He posted 12 bench press reps in the pre-draft process.
Leg Strength
York has a decent leg, making several kicks of 55 yards or longer over the course of his career. He set or tied records with a 59-yard field goal at the Under Armour All-America game in high school, a 57-yarder at LSU, a 58-yarder with the Browns and a 59-yarder with the Bengals.
As a measure of his confidence in his leg he was frustrated that the Browns opted not to let him attempt a 67-yarder before the half in one game. He was also filmed making a 70-yard field goal before a game.
He made 15 field goals of 50 yards or longer at LSU and is 5-for-9 from that distance during his NFL career.
York made a solid 82 percent of his field goals with the Tigers, also nailing 118 consecutive extra points during that time, so he had a good accuracy record before entering the league.
His NFL numbers haven’t been quite as good as he made 75 percent of his field goals in his rookie year and has made just 9 of 15 in his last two preseason campaigns. He did make 9 of his 11 field goals in his most recent regular season action, though.
He has had a tendency to kick low at times, making his kicks susceptible to being blocked, and has hooked a few makeable kicks during his career.
York didn’t miss any clutch kicks in college and came up big when he made a 57-yard game winner in a 2020 upset of the Florida Gators.
Early on in his NFL career, he repeated the trick with a 58-yard game winner over the Panthers. Unlike the Florida game-winner, a miss would have lost the Browns the game rather than sent it to overtime, so there was considerably more pressure on it.
With the Bengals, York had an easy chance to have a game-winner but it smacked the upright. They still won in overtime, though.
In addition, his late-game missed extra point against the Jets proved costly as New York ultimately recovered an onside kick and ended up coming back to win by one. He also missed a late-game tying field goal in another regular season game, and consecutive potential game-winning field goals in a preseason game.
York doesn’t make much of an impact in kick coverage but has had a few tackles in preseason and regular season action.
Intangibles/Miscellaneous
York has also kicked off regularly throughout his career. He has a 63% touchback rate at the NFL level.
He is also capable of punting but hasn’t done this at the NFL or college level. He has not been involved in any fakes at the NFL or college level either.
York is described as a hard-worker and perfectionist but has been guilty of being over-confident or getting frustrated at times. During one preseason game, he shared a social media post about how well he was doing at halftime and then proceeded to miss two second half kicks. He also reportedly got testy with a reporter who asked him about his struggles at one point.
He missed one game with a lower leg injury in college and spent time on the Giants’ injured reserve in 2023 after suffering a quad injury shortly after his arrival.
He was on the SEC Academic Honor Roll in 2020.
Conclusions
Some fans reacted with alarm at this signing because York hasn’t been good enough to hold down a job so far in his career, but he has almost certainly just signed a minimum-level deal to compete for the role with nothing guaranteed.
The Jets will be hoping the fact he’s under-achieved so far in his career doesn’t mean he can’t still live up to his potential. Clearly he has some talent and will have an edge over Lenny Krieg - the only other kicker currently on the roster - in terms of experience.
The Jets may not be done at this position but York wouldn’t be the first draft pick to initially struggle as a kicker only to later find his feet. If that doesn’t happen, the Jets can explore other options, so there’s no real downside here.