Why Jake Elliott will bounce back this year

It’s (going to be) good

Not much went wrong for the Eagles in 2024. But Jake Elliott had a regular season to forget. Elliott made just 77.8% of his field goal attempts, finishing 28th in FG%. Owing to the nature of small sample sizes that kickers have, if Elliott had made three more of his FGs he would have been 16th in FG%. But he didn’t make three more.

In the playoffs though, he went 10 of 11, with his miss being from 54 yards. Including the playoffs he went just 2 for 9 from 50+.

Beau Allen claims that Elliott played through an injury, and the numbers back him up:

• Elliott was 27 of 29 under 50 yards, 93.1%, good for 14th among those with at least 10 FG attempts, and 8th among those with 30+ attempts.
• He was 47 of 48 on point after attempts, his 97.9% PAT rate being the 2nd best of his career when he was perfect in 2021.
• After three straight seasons of 90+ kickoff attempts, Elliott had just 11, 10 of which were in the final two games.

In 2020 Elliott, like the rest of the team, had a miserable season. He had the worst conversion rate of his career at 73.7%, also 28th among qualified kickers. He also had his worst season on PATs, at 92.3%. BGN alum Adam Hermann believed that Elliott’s infrequent use that season contributed to him being out of sync, and I agree. Over the last 13 games Elliott had just 12 FG attempts, and just 19 all season. In 2021, he had his career high in field goal attempts with 33, and a then career high in field goal percentage, at 90.9; he was also perfect on PATs. He made his first and so far only Pro Bowl.

Having previously gone from his worst season to his best, we know he is capable of bouncing back. If he was injured all year, he could easily bounce back again.