New York Jets: K Cairo Santos signed to a one-year contract

The New York Jets add Cairo Santos on a one year deal.

The New York Jets have given us some kicker news, ladies and gentlemen. After Chandler Catanzaro defected for Tampa Bay they needed to add one. Late on Thursday afternoon they found one, inking Cairo Santos to a one-year contract. Santos spent 3+ seasons with the Chiefs and had a cup of coffee with the Bears last season before winding up in New York.

Santos has been efficient throughout his career, kicking to an 84.1% field goal percentage. His biggest flaw has been in the long range. He is only 7-13 on field goals from 50+ in his career. Santos is first up to compete for the kicking job and there will likely be competition coming in to fight for it as well. We all know how Todd Bowles feels about competition.

Overall Santos has been good. Before spending most of 2017 injured, he posted three straight seasons of over 100 points. He posted 129 points back to back in 2015 and 2016, earning him sixth best in scoring in the NFL. Santos has been a solid kicker in this league and has spent his career playing outdoors. The elements shouldn’t bother him too much.

Kickers are like the drummer in your favorite band. You really only notice them when they make a mistake or play a drum solo. The drum solo would be the clutch kick or the long kick. We know what the mistakes would be. The rest of the time you just feel the drummer keeping time for the rest of the group. That is what we want out of our kicker. Make the occasional big kick and don’t mess things up.

If Santos is able to earn the job during training camp he can do exactly that.

Next: Jets free agency tracker

It’s not the type of move we want to see. It’s not the exciting one that will get the fan base juiced up for 2018. But it’s not a bad move either. Mike Maccagnan isn’t bad with the secondary moves. It’s the primary ones that sometimes get him in trouble.