Sam Ficken Doesn't Practice on Friday, Serio Castillo Could Start for the New York Jets
It might be the Sergio Castillo show if Sam Ficken is unable to kick on Sunday.
Ficken injured his groin in practice on Wednesday, the Jets starting kicker unable to practice on Thursday or Friday. It appears that things are trending towards Castillo, signed last week to the practice squad, getting his first NFL start this weekend.
“Right, we’re kind of day-to-day right now, but we’re running out of time,” Jets head coach Adam Gase said about Ficken’s status in a virtual press conference on Friday. “So, I mean we’re going to have to make a decision here pretty soon and decide what we’re going to do.”
Castillo, who had a brief spell in 2014 with the Atlanta Falcons in training camp, has never kicked in an NFL regular season game. He has spent most of his career in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as well as a stint earlier this season in the XFL.
He opted out of the CFL season, allowing him to sign with the Jets practice squad last week. In the XFL, he made all five of his field goals attempts.
In 2019, Castillo was 41-of-45 in field goal attempts for the BC Lions.
“Yeah, I mean it’s just one of those things, just for me it’s watching the guy kick in practice is one thing, until what’s going to happen on gameday,” Gase said. “The good thing is, is I do trust [special teams coach] Brant [Boyer], [Jeff Hammerschimdt] in their evaluation. If they bring a guy in here, I’m always going to trust those guys that that guy can do the job the way we need him.”
Ficken was 9-of-10 in field goal attempts so far this season. He’s also made all six point-after attempts.
