Friday, March 14, 2014

Nick Folk in good spirits upon new deal with Jets

BY NICK ST. DENIS

After winning half a dozen positional competitions in the past two seasons just to keep his job, New York Jets kicker Folk was more than happy to get a 400-percent raise earlier this offseason via the franchise tag.

"Any time that that could happen, it’s pretty exciting," Folk said this week, via NewYorkJets.com. "Most of the time when you get a Franchise Tag, things tend to work out and you get a long term deal."

Maybe not for all positions, but for a kicker, certainly.

Just hours after the start of free agency Tuesday, Folk ended up signing a four-year contract reportedly worth $12 million. The veteran boot, who connected on 33 of 36 field goal attempts last season, was confident all along.

"I think there was mutual interest there from both sides and we both wanted to get something done," Folk said. "I think they just wanted to make sure with all the frenzy that went on the first day of free agency that nothing crazy happened. They wanted to make sure that something would get done and I’m happy it did."

And when Folk was asked if he would've been disappointed had he not found common ground with the team for a long-term deal, he gave an honest "Yes and no" answer.

"I mean, it’s a pretty nice pay raise from what I was making [last season], so I think it would been alright either way," he said. "I’m just happy something got done and we’re excited to get back there. My wife and I are ready to get back to New Jersey. When do we start? We start the 21st of April, so around then."

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