The New York Jets are making a decision on the lineup of the struggling special teams star

The New York Jets finally made a decision on his struggling kicker, Greg Zuerlein. It is unclear what will happen next – in the case of Zuerlein and his position.

Jets (2-6) placed Zuerlein injured substitute on Wednesday, taking him out of the lineup for the next few weeks with a left knee injury. He was added to the injury report on Tuesday.

Because of this he can’t play Thursday match against Houston, Texas (6-2). That’s why the Jets need a new kicker.

New York on Wednesday, he signed two kickers to the practice squad – Riley Patterson and Spencer Shrader. The Jets will need to upgrade one or both of their players before the game.

This puts pressure on Zuerlein, who is coming off the worst season of his long career.

Zuerlein is 9-of-15 from the field and his 60% conversion rate is his worst since he was 66.7% in 2015. This came after two strong seasons for the Jets, in which he went 30-for-37 in 2022 and 35-for-38 in 2023. He is a career kicker at an 82.2%.

Moving him to IR gives him time to deal with his knee injury and also gives him time to deal with some of the mechanical issues that he believes led to his missed games. It also means the Jets won’t have to eat up the remaining guaranteed money on his contract for now.

It also gives either Patterson or Shrader a chance to make a permanent move. They were part of a group of several diggers who passed through competition on Tuesday at Met Life Stadium along with Zane Gonzalez, Brayden Narveson, Andre Szmyt and Cade York.

Patterson is the more experienced kicker and is more likely to get the nod on Thursday. He was kicked by five NFL teams and made 88% of his field goals (59 of 67). He has 96% extra points (93 out of 97). He is 19 of 25 from beyond 40 yards.

Earlier this year, Shrader was an undrafted free agent who was playing in his first season with the team Indianapolis for the injured Matt Gay. He scored three extra points and was later fired.

In college at USF and Notre Dame, he combined for 43 of 62 field goals, 61 of 62 extra points, and had a career-long career rushing total of 54 yards.

While Zuerlein isn’t the Jets’ only problem, his misses have accounted for the margin of loss in three games this season.

Against Patriots on Sunday, he missed an extra point and missed a 44-yard field goal. That put the Jets in a two-point conversion situation with a five-point lead over the Patriots in the final three minutes. The conversion failed and New England rallied to win.

Against Denver in week four, Zuerlein missed a 50-yard field goal that would have won the game. The Jets lost that game 10-9, but he scored all nine of New York’s points that day.

Then two weeks later against Buffalohe made 2 of 4 field goals and missed twice in the second half, which could have given the Jets the lead. In fact, if he had made both kicks, the Jets would have beaten the Bills.