Gang Green Nation
Over the next few months, we’re breaking down all of the undrafted free agents signed by the Jets since April’s draft. However, today we are focusing on a recent veteran addition; kicker Younghoe Koo.
The 31-year old Koo is listed at 5’9″ and 185 pounds and was undrafted out of Georgia Southern in 2017. After getting cut one month into his career, Koo was out of the league for two seasons but then became an inspirational story as he ended up as a pro bowler. He spent seven seasons with the Falcons before being released last season.
Background
Koo was an impressive kicker in high school and ended up at Georgia Southern where he just kicked 12 field goals in his first three seasons as he was mostly a kickoff specialist.
In 2016, he had the full-time placekicker role for the entire season for the first time and was a third team all-American as he made 19 of 20 field goals with his only miss being an attempt at a career-best 54 yarder before halftime in one game.
The Los Angeles Chargers signed Koo as an undrafted free agent in 2017 and he won the kicker role as a rookie. However, he missed potential game-winners in each of his first two games and was released after week four with the Chargers winless.
The Chargers head coach stated that they wanted someone with more consistency and experience and said that Koo was talented enough to bounce back and have a long career but the Chargers were criticized for making him a scapegoat, especially since one of the misses was a blocked kick he couldn’t have done anything to prevent.
Koo didn’t get another shot that season, or in 2018, so he opted to join the AAF’s Atlanta Legends. This was going well, as he was 14 for 14 with two game winners, but then the league ceased operations. However, he had shown enough to get back onto NFL radars.
After a brief stop in New England, Koo signed for Atlanta in October 2019 and marked his first NFL appearance in two years by making all four of his field goals. By the end of the season he had made 23 of 26 field goals and won two special teams player of the week awards.
Clearly Koo had finally found a home as he made 95 percent of his field goals in 2020 to head to the pro bowl and then made 93 percent in 2021.
Having signed a five-year extension ahead of the 2022 season, Koo would continue to do a solid job over the next three seasons. However, when he missed a game-tying field goal in last year’s season opener, he was benched and then released.
He spent six games with the Giants after his release, missing three of 18 kicks and bizarrely aborting another attempt in a viral moment that he explained was caused by the ball slipping from the holder’s grasp as he was about to kick it....
