Jets To Add K Riley Patterson, K Spencer Shrader To Practice Squad

11:11am: The Jets have placed Zuerlein on injured reserve, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, sidelining him for at least four games as New York will rely on Patterson and Shrader to kick in the coming weeks.

9:15am: With Greg Zuerlein struggling and now on the Jets’ injury report, the team will add multiple kickers from its Tuesday workout. Both Riley Patterson and Spencer Shrader are coming aboard.

Part of a six-kicker audition, Patterson and Shrader are joining New York’s practice squad, per NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero. One of the two will be elevated to the Jets’ gameday roster for Thursday night, though it is not yet known who will fill in for Zuerlein, who remains on the team’s 53-man roster. The Jets also worked out Cade York, Zane Gonzalez and recent Packers kicker Brayden Narveson but will go with the Patterson-Shrader combo.

Patterson, who worked out for the Jets twice this month, is accustomed to changing teams in-season. He moved from Lions cut to Jaguars waiver claim in August 2022 before being traded back to Detroit during the 2023 offseason. The Lions then cut him late last season, paving a path to Cleveland as a Dustin Hopkins fill-in. The Jags then added Patterson back via a reserve/futures contract before moving on again this summer. The Commanders claimed Patterson in July but cut him during a shaky preseason stretch.

While Patterson has kicked in 39 regular-season games, Shrader has only appeared in one. The former Notre Dame and South Florida specialist replaced an injured Matt Gay earlier this season for the Colts. Shrader hit 15 of 22 field goals for the Fighting Irish last season. His best accuracy slate came two years prior, when he hit on 11 of 13 with South Florida.

Patterson was 16-for-18 with the Lions and Browns last season, and while he lost his job to Michael Badgley after an ongoing practice competition and then saw the Jags and Commanders move on, his experience might win out for a Jets team effectively entering a do-or-die game against the Texans.

A decorated college kicker who thrived with the Rams for nearly a decade, Zuerlein has run into trouble this season. The 36-year-old kicker has made just 9 of 15 field goal tries. Only one of those misses came from beyond 50 yards, as the strong-legged specialist misfired from inside 40 twice. For all the other issues plaguing the Jets, Zuerlein’s struggles have proven costly this season.

Zuerlein moving to IR to clear a roster spot would make sense for the 2-6 team, which would take on nearly $4MM in dead money by cutting him. The Jets used three void years to reduce Zuerlein’s cap hit upon re-signing him to a two-year, $8.4MM deal in March.