Nick Folk’s late-career resurgence gives Falcons an answer to kicking woes

FLOWERY BRANCH — While the rest of his Falcons teammates stretch behind him on the main practice field, kicker Nick Folk is largely in his own world. He raises one knee, then lowers it. He reaches down, grabs his toe, then walks forward. Then, he backpedals.

Alone.

To his right, some 40 yards away, long snapper Liam McCullough and punter Jake Bailey progress through their own separate routines. But this is about Folk, the 41-year-old whose right leg could be the Falcons’ biggest point of improvement from last season and a 19-year veteran who has somehow, someway, turned back the clock.

And he started this magnitude of his late-career resurgence three years ago, under the same coach — special teams coordinator Craig Aukerman — who influenced his decision to sign with the Falcons and now leads him through every practice.

“Craig Aukerman was a lot of it,” Folks said in July about why he signed with the Falcons. “He’s kind of got this infectious energy about him, and then he also has a very calm nature about him with the specialists. So, I just enjoy him.”

Folk was out of football in 2018 and spent the spring of ’19 in the Alliance of American Football league, which ceased operations at the end of that season. He faced tryouts, roster cuts, practice-squad inclusions and ultimately caught on with the Patriots, for whom he made over 92% of his field goals in both 2020 and ’21.

In 2022, Folk’s accuracy dipped to 86.5%, a respectable clip but below where he’d been. Two weeks before the start of the 2023 season, the Titans traded for Folk, who responded by making five field goals in the season opener and winning AFC Special Teams Player of the Week after the next game.

Folk finished 2023 with a league-best 96.7% accuracy rate on field goals. He led the NFL once more in 2024 at 95.5%, and again in ’25 with a 96.6% clip. All told, over the past three seasons, he’s made 78 of 81 field goals, or 96.3%, and 75 of 77 extra points, a 97.4% rate.

Aukerman wants no part of the credit.

“This is Nick,” Aukerman said in training camp. “It’s all about him. I just try to help along the way. But this guy is such a professional. He’s done it for so long. I think it’s him just perfecting his craft each and every year, and he’s found a really great rhythm. The older he gets, the ball is still consistently hitting straight.”

Folk found comfort in Aukerman’s support of his routine immediately upon arriving in Tennessee. But as far as mechanics or things of that nature, Folk doesn’t believe anything inherently changed in 2023. He’s merely discovered a better version of his finest self.

“I mean, I’ve always felt like I’ve been a pretty accurate kicker, for the most part,” he said in July. “There’s a lot of things that go into kicking and statistics, if you will. So, I don’t know if it’s one thing or anything like that. It’s just kind of ‘just enjoy the moment, enjoy the time’ and then try to do my part.”

Season of change

Change or no change, Folk has earned an identity as the NFL’s most accurate kicker. His addition — through a two-year, $9 million contract — is a welcome sight for the Falcons, who went through three kickers last season and lost multiple games because of special-teams blunders.

Though he’s new to Atlanta, Folk is surrounded by familiar faces. Aukerman aside, he spent four years with Bailey on the Patriots and he played against assistant special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn, formerly an NFL linebacker, for several seasons.

Folk knows the system and expectations. Trust already exists. His coaches understand his routine and approach to his training-camp ramp-up period.

The Falcons’ infrastructure has helped Folk hit the ground running. He went 3-for-3 on field goals in the preseason, drilling a pair from 50-plus yards, and made all seven extra-point attempts. And apart from a subpar training camp practice Aug. 25, when he missed two field goals, he was crisp and precise throughout the summer, too.

“He’s been extremely accurate,” Aukerman said. “I just think it’s him just going out there and doing what he needs to do each and every day. As of right now, that ball is going through the uprights, which has been great for us.”

Last season, the Falcons’ three kickers — Zane Gonzalez, John Parker Romo and Younghoe Koo — combined to go 32-for-39 on field goals. Their 82% clip ranked ninth-worst in the NFL.

Folk’s arrival, and the dependability he’s brought along with him, has fostered a collective ease throughout the Falcons’ roster.

“Each and every time he goes out there, everyone’s confident,” Aukerman said. “It’s not just me. It’s not just him. They all go out there and they know that Nick has been consistent the past couple years. So, it brings a lot of confidence to ourselves. He’s a guy that’s very steady. He’s not going to ever get too high or too low.

“He’s just a steady type of guy, and I think guys usually gravitate toward that, like, ‘Hey, this guy is really cool, calm, collected, and he’s going to end up making those kicks.’ So, it does change the dynamics because we can go out there and kick a 56-yard field goal and feel confident that he’ll make the kick.”

Folk is the Falcons’ oldest player by seven years. There are days, he jokes (partially), where it becomes harder to get out of bed. Most of the players he’s shared locker rooms with have been displaced, cycled out for a new generation of younger talent.

Earlier this offseason, the first few times Folk walked into the Falcons’ locker room, some teammates said, ‘Man, I keep thinking you’re a coach.’ He feels old “every day,” he said with a smirk, but his body — physically — remains in fine shape to be the same, accurate kicker he’s proved in his resurgence.

“I feel like I’m in a good spot,” Folk said. “I’ve just got to take care of myself. I can’t do things that I could do 15 years ago, so I have to understand that (and) keep working to make sure I can do what I need to do on Sundays. But for the most part, I feel really good.”

Folk’s first season with the Falcons is already off to a special start.

At the end of the team’s practice Thursday — their final session before a game-week schedule begins Monday — Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski called a huddle and announced captains. Folk was the first he named.

Perhaps a surprise, given the length and distinction of his NFL career, it marked the first time Folk earned captain status. Maybe this year’s secret sauce was his age or the coach qualities. Or maybe, and more likely, it’s the trust he’s earned within the Falcons’ locker room and the dependability he’s proved on the field, both this summer and the three seasons preceding it.

The Falcons, after a nightmarish kicking campaign in 2025, appear to have found the right solution this fall — a nod to Folk, to Aukerman’s influence in 2023 and to general manager Ian Cunningham’s willingness to reunite them in Atlanta.