Now he is heading to the other borough.
The New York Jets have signed the veteran kicker, adding him to a 90-man roster that already features Cade York and Lenny Krieg in what has become a three-man kicking competition heading into training camp.
Koo, 31, comes to New York by way of the NFL's now-familiar kicker carousel.
The Falcons released him after a missed game-tying 44-yard field goal attempt in a Week 1 loss to the Buccaneers, ending a seven-year relationship with Atlanta that produced some of the most accurate kicking the NFL had seen in years.
He appeared in five games for the Giants later that season, going 6-for-9 on field goal attempts before missing both his attempts from beyond 50 yards and being released in December.
He tried out for the Saints at rookie minicamp earlier this month and was not signed.
The Jets called next.
Why the Jets Have This Opening
New York lost Nick Folk to the Atlanta Falcons in free agency this offseason, creating a competition at the position for the first time in years.
York signed a one-year, no-guaranteed-money deal in March and brings 2022 draft pedigree but inconsistency, having made 78.8 percent of his career attempts across stops in Cleveland and Philadelphia before landing in New York.
🚨🚨 BREAKING: The Jets are signing Pro-Bowl K Younghoe Koo
— NFL Rumors (@nflrums) May 27, 2026
Krieg arrived on a futures deal in January as an International Pathway Program player who was part of the kicking competition in Atlanta that Koo won last summer, only for Koo to be released and Krieg to later follow him out the door when the Falcons elevated Parker Romo.
The Jets now have all three of them competing for the same job, with Koo bringing the most accomplished track record of the group by a significant margin.
The Koo Resume
Before the decline that began in 2024, Koo was legitimately one of the best kickers the sport had seen.
He made more than 93 percent of his field goal attempts in both 2020 and 2021, earned Pro Bowl recognition in 2020, and at one point held the record for the highest field goal percentage in NFL history.
The Falcons rewarded him with a five-year, $24.25 million extension in 2022 based on that track record, a contract that showed just how dominant he had been.
The last two seasons have been a completely different story.
𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: The Jets are signing veteran kicker Younghoe Koo, per @Connor_J_Hughes
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) May 27, 2026
A fantastic pickup for New York 🔥 pic.twitter.com/PaasPgDOSX
He made 73.5 percent of his attempts in 2024, a dramatic and unexpected drop, and has now been released by two organizations in the span of a calendar year.
At 31 years old, with a Pro Bowl on his resume and a track record that still outperforms most of the available kicker market, Koo is a rational bet for any team willing to run the competition.
The Jets are giving him that chance.
Whether he wins it, and whether he looks more like the 2020-2023 version or the 2024-2025 version, will be answered in August.
Photo Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
