The 5 O’Clock Club: Why is Nick Folk still an unsigned free agent?

It’s 5 o’clock somewhere…

The 5 o’clock club is published from time to time during the season, and aims to provide a forum for reader-driven discussion at a time of day when there isn’t much NFL news being published. Feel free to introduce topics that interest you in the comments below.

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Honestly, this is the kind of late-March free agent move by a team that usually wouldn’t even register with me. The Titans signed Joey Slye.

I’ve gotta be honest with you, when I read that Tennessee has signed Slye, I assume that Joey is the camp competition and Nick Folk, who had been the kicker in Tennessee for the past two years, is the guy who is expected to be kicking for the Titans when Week 1 rolls around despite being a currently unsigned free agent. I assume that the Titans and Folk are just hammering out some contract details.

But when Ian Rappaport says that a team is “officially moving on” from a guy, I tend to take notice because drawing distinctions between this and phrases like “indicates that the team might” are pretty critical in the type of reporting RapSheet does for a living. He carries water for agents and teams who want to communicate specific information in a certain way; if Ian says that the Titans are moving on from Nick Folk, who am I to disagree?

I do find it surprising, though. Look at the comparison of the two players for the past two seasons:

It occurred to me that I might have missed or forgotten about a news story in which Nick Folk ended up center stage in some embarrassing faux pas, arrest or scandal. So I googled. I found no scandals.

I then thumped my forehead and said to myself, “Of course! Folk is 41 years old and has decided to retire!” So I googled. Here’s what I found:

Folk put any retirement rumors to rest on Monday by saying that he intends to play in 2025.

“I want to keep playing. I’ve told everyone [in the organization] that already. My mind is made up. Guys who I have talked to, they kind of like know when they’re done. I haven’t ever thought that I want to be done with it. That’s just where I’m at,” Folk said on Monday as the locker room was clearing out. “I want to keep playing, so it’s already made up. The decision is already made in my mind.”

So, Nick Folk, aged 41, who led the NFL in kicking percentage over the past two years, is an unsigned free agent who appears to have been dumped by his old team.

Washington’s current kicker is Zane Gonzalez, who’s most recent claim to fame is probably his ‘bank shot’ to seal the playoff win against the Buccaneers in the wildcard round of the NFC playoffs in January.

Gonzo has a career FG percentage of 80%. In his 6 regular season games with Washington in 2024, he made 71.4% of his attempts, missing his only attempt beyond 50 yards. He made 7 of 8 attempts in the playoffs, making his only attempt beyond 50 yards, and hitting that game-winner vs Tampa Bay.

I find myself looking for reasons why the Commanders haven’t made a deal to bring Nick Folk to Washington. Absent any scandals or retirement, all I’m left with is contract and salary cap issues. For the past three seasons, playing for New England and Tennessee, Nick Folk earned between $2.2 and $3.7m per season, which seems affordable for the league’s most accurate kicker, but he also had significant guarantees in those three seasons — $2.3m over two seasons (‘22-’23) and $3.5m for one season in 2024.

At this point, I’m guessing that the issue Nick Folk is having with NFL teams is that, having gotten a taste of guaranteed money at that level, he’s hooked and wants more of the same — and maybe for multiple years — which may not be something teams are excited about.

Because why else would the most accurate kicker in the NFL, who has expressed his desire to continue kicking in 2025, not have a job?