Scouting Nick Rose
Over the last month or so we've been sharing in-depth scouting reports on each of the Jets' offseason additions. Today we conclude (unless the Jets make another signing between now and the draft) with a look at kicker Nick Rose, who the team claimed on waivers last week with a view to providing some competition for Cairo Santos.
The 23-year-old Rose is listed at 6-foot-2, 200 pounds, and was an undrafted free agent out of Texas in 2016. He saw his first NFL action with Washington last season, but was then waived and picked up by the Chargers. In all, he made 11 of 14 field goals. The Jets are his fifth NFL team.
Background
Rose handled kickoff duties and punted while in high school before beginning his college career with Texas in 2011. Over the first two years, he only kicked three extra points, but was the kickoff specialist.
In his junior year, he became the team's placekicker, although he split the workload at times. After a slow start in each year, he was consistent down the stretch. Overall, he made 27 of 38 field goals over the two years, with two from over 50 yards.
The Atlanta Falcons signed Rose as an undrafted free agent but he missed two of his four field goal attempts and had a third miss negated by a penalty in preseason action.
After being released, he spent camp and preseason with the 49ers last year. He made his first three field goals, including one from over 50 yards, but then missed a long field goal in his final game.
Rose saw his first regular season action last season as he was signed by Washington due to Dustin Hopkins being injured. He lasted eight games, making 10 of 11 field goals, although he did also miss two extra points.
When Hopkins returned, Rose was waived and the Chargers claimed him, but he missed two of his three field goal attempts and an extra point in two games with them.
Field goals
Rose's overall numbers are slightly below what you'd like to see but he has shown an ability to be pretty automatic when he's kicking well. He made 10 of his first 11 kicks in 2017, nine of his last 10 in 2015 and 10 of his last 13 in 2014.
Of his three misses with the Chargers last year, two were blocked although these were partially his fault because the kicks were unnecessarily low.
He's also missed more extra points than you'd ideally like to see at all levels.
Long distance
Rose showcased his big leg last season when he made this impressive 56-yarder with room to spare:
There's also this impressive clip of him effortlessly booting an 80-yarder off a tee on YouTube:
He's made four of nine field goals from beyond 50 in college, preseason and regular season action combined.
Environment
The sample sizes are probably not big enough to draw any conclusions about whether Rose can be as effective with the Jets as he was in Texas. It's worth noting that he was better in Washington than he was in Los Angeles though. Having said that, the games with the Chargers were later in the year.
It's worth mentioning that he has missed his only ever kick at Metlife Stadium and is 0-for-1 in cold weather games at the NFL level.
Clutch
Rose didn't really have any huge pressure kicks at the NFL level although he did make a fourth quarter field goal to essentially ice a win over the Giants by making it a two-possession game.
At Texas, he didn't get many big opportunities either, but he beat Iowa State 48-45 with this chip shot with three seconds to go.
On the other end of the scale, this missed extra point cost them the game against Cal:
Kickoffs
One area where Rose might have an edge over Santos is on kickoffs. In college, Rose improved his touchback percentage in each year, to 75% as a senior. Over his last two years, he led the nation in having the fewest kickoffs returned with just 27 over the two years.
PFF gave Rose the best kickoff grade in the nation in 2014 and an even better grade, albeit only ranked in fourth, in 2015.
In the NFL last year, he had 24 touchbacks on 38 kickoffs and his opponents' average start was among the league leaders.
Miscellaneous
Rose has good size and is a good athlete. Who knows when the ability to do this will come in handy?
He had two tackles in his college career, but also this costly missed tackle that led to a touchdown:
As noted, he had some experience as a punter when he was younger. He even punted it an NFL preseason game, although it didn't go well as he shanked a 16-yarder out of bounds.
Conclusions
Initially, it seemed like Rose was just a back-up in case Santos faltered or got hurt again, but when you consider what happened in camp last year, perhaps we should be giving Rose a better chance of taking the job.
In camp last year, Ross Martin outkicked Catanzaro and was at least as good as him, if not better, in preseason. However, the Jets ultimately went with the physically larger individual, citing his big leg as the primary reason for that.
Rose does appear to have a bigger leg, but has perhaps not been as reliable on field goals as Santos has to this point. Obviously, he's still young though, so that aspect of his game may yet improve.
As unlikely as it may seem, it's not entirely impossible that the Jets carry two kickers - one to kick off and the other to kick field goals.