Falcons 'Have to Fix' Kicking Situation, Could Bring Younghoe Koo Competition

The Atlanta Falcons have been one of the NFL's best field goal-kicking teams over the past decade.

Dating back to 2015, Atlanta has made the second most field goals in the NFL with 306 and boasts an 86.3% made field goal rate, the fourth-best mark in the league. Both Matt Bryant (2016) and Younghoe Koo (2020) earned Pro Bowl nods during the span.

But 2024 served as a shock to the system for the Falcons, who missed a league-high 12 kicks. Koo went 25 for 34 on field goals and was tied for the league lead in misses before being placed on injured reserve with a right hip injury after Week 15.

Koo's replacement, Riley Patterson, made only 4 of 7 tries. He was 1-for-4 kicking on field goals of 40-plus yards. Patterson missed a 56-yard try at the end of regulation in Atlanta's 30-24 overtime loss to the Washington Commanders on Dec. 29, and his 52-yard attempt sailed wide right against the Carolina Panthers in Week 18, a game Atlanta lost 44-38 in overtime.

Falcons head coach Raheem Morris acknowledged his team missed too many kicks this season.

"The brutal honest truth, that can't happen," Morris said Jan. 6. "So, we got to find ways to make those kicks. That certainly plays into the part of not winning the amount of games you want to win. We got to find ways to create that competition across the board for all of us.

"We got to get Koo healthy, get him back. We got to do some things there."

Morris and general manager Terry Fontenot -- along with other coaches involved with the position -- worked together in deciding when to put Koo on injured reserve and again throughout the process of signing Patterson. Atlanta weighed whether it needed to end Koo's season or merely manage his injury but ultimately settled on injured reserve.

Fontenot said frustration surrounding the Falcons' kicking situation is warranted.

"It affects games," Fontenot said Jan. 9. "In a game of inches, it really affects us. Once Koo was injured, we obviously put him on IR. Our job is to make sure we're fixing that this offseason so we get the season next year and we're not having the same conversation. That's our job."

The Fontenot-led Falcons gave Koo a five-year, $24.5 million contract extension in March of 2022, but Atlanta won't merely hand the 30-year-old the starting job entering 2025.

"With Koo, I know him personally -- he feels the same frustration that we all feel, and he's going to work hard to get himself back to the standard that he's been at for the majority of his career," Fontenot said. "And us as a staff, we have to make sure, No. 1, we're supporting him.

"But also, we're bringing in -- at every position, we have to bring in competition and make sure we're continuing to enhance those things. So, I understand your frustration. It's warranted. We all have the same thing, and we have to fix that."

Morris said Atlanta wants to find ways to get better and ensure it has the ability to make kicks when needed -- whether that be with Koo or an external option.

But as the Falcons (8-9) sit at home pondering their seventh consecutive season with a losing record and no playoff appearance, they'll do so with the understanding that such a kicking performance played a part in their second-half downfall.

"Understand the frustration, disappointment, all those things, because it affects wins and losses," Fontenot said. "So, we have to get it fixed."