Falcons make a kicking change, release Nick Folk after slow start
FLOWERY BRANCH — The Falcons have made a change at kicker, replacing the embattled Nick Folk with Jake Moody, a team source confirmed to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday.
Folk went 13-for-18 on field goals this season, a stark contrast to the reliable kicker the Falcons thought they signed to a two-year, $9 million contract this spring. The 42-year-old led the NFL in field-goal percentage each of the past three years, missing only one field goal each season.
Among kickers with at least 10 field-goal attempts this season, Folk ranked fourth-worst in the NFL with a 72.2% conversion rate. He was 1-of-4 on attempts from 50-plus yards, and his long of 51 was the third-shortest among those with 10-plus attempts.
The Falcons signed Moody, 26, off the Baltimore Ravens’ practice squad.
A third-round pick in 2023, Moody connected on 46 of 62 field goals across 32 games in 2½ seasons with the 49ers. He was released midway through the 2025 campaign, then went 18-of-20 in eight games split between stops with the Chicago Bears and Washington Commanders.
Moody lost the kicking job in Washington this offseason and joined the Ravens’ practice squad shortly thereafter. He appeared in the team’s 33-10 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Nov. 5, connecting on a 53-yard field goal and nailing his lone extra-point attempt.
For his career, Moody has a 78.3% field-goal rate and is 108-of-111 on extra point attempts.
Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski and special teams coordinator Craig Aukerman routinely offered public boosts of confidence to Folk, a 19-year veteran, throughout his rocky campaign.
But after Folk missed a 38-yard field goal in Sunday’s loss to the Cincinnati Bengals — his first miss inside 40 yards since Oct. 5, 2017 — Stefanski adopted a different tone. He was non-committal on bringing in competition or voicing levels of concern.
“Obviously, I expect Nick to make his kicks. Nick expects to make his kicks,” Stefanski said postgame. “He knows we’re counting on him, and that’s the nature of being a guy that you’re counting on. But he’s a pro.”
The lasting image of Folk’s time in Atlanta came after his miss. He hunched over, placed his hands on his knees and gazed at the grass inside Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, perhaps realizing that was the final straw from an uncharacteristically inaccurate tenure.