Nick Folk would like to be back with the Jets for a long time to come.
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After four years with the Jets, Nick Folk is hoping to extend his time in New York beyond just this upcoming season.
Folk, who has been on four one-year deals since he signed with the team in 2010, is coming off his best season in his seven years in the league. He made 33-of-36 field goal attempts — his highest field goal percentage in the NFL — including a career-high of 17 field goals from 40 yards or greater. In addition, he connected on all 27 point-after attempts.
“I’d love to stay in New York,” Folk, who is currently in Dallas training, told Metro New York. “They’re still finalizing the coaching staff from what I heard.”
He had an end-of-the-season meeting with general manager John Idzik and head coach Rex Ryan in late December, where he sensed the Jets wanted him back.
“That’s what I got from it. It was a good meeting, I conveyed that I’d like to be back,” Folk said. “[We will] see what happens over the next couple months.”
Folk didn’t make the Pro Bowl roster despite just three misses while playing in a cold-weather city and in a stadium notorious for its windy conditions. But he hopes his form will result in the first multi-year contract of his time in New York.
Ryan nicknaming him “Folk Hero” and lobbying for him to make the Pro Bowl is a sign the Jets see Folk in their future.
“Of course I’d love it, and I’d think that they’d like a reliable guy at that position for awhile,” Folk said. “It is up to them to see what they want to go, what they want to do with things.”
A part of his success this year was a change in his regimen that included kicking fewer balls in practice. This resulted in a fresher leg, as evidenced by an increased number of touchbacks at the tail end of this season.
According to his extensive records, he kicked 4,841 balls from training camp on through the final practice of the 2012 season. This past year, that number dropped to 3,915 kicks. He plans to drop down to “3,500” for this upcoming season, in order to be “fresh for the playoffs.”
Follow Jets beat writer Kristian Dyer on Twitter @KristianRDyer.
