Jake Elliott earns NFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors

It isn’t often that we show love to kickers in the NFL unless they’re nearing some rare territory that few of the peers have been able to reach, but we’ll make an exception in this case. Following a career day, one in which he was perfect on all four of his field-goal attempts and four-for-four on extra points, Philadelphia Eagles kicker Jake Elliott earns NFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors.

16 points is a career-high for Number 4, and his day didn’t go unnoticed by Eagles special teams coach Michael Clay, who most recently met with the media on the Tuesday leading up to Philly’s game versus the hated New York Giants in Week 12.

Here’s some of what Clay had to say:

"They’re a well-oiled machine between Jake, Arryn (Siposs), and, really, it all starts with Rick (Lovato). Rick serves a great, short snap and makes it easy for Arryn to hold and takes the mind off Jake of where the laces are and everything like that, so in terms of mechanically, they do it for so long, I don’t need to tell them anything. I just try to keep them loose and in a great mental space. It’s all kudos to them. They’re the ones going out there and putting in the hard work. I’m just there as the caddie, ‘Hey, maybe you want to do this on this situation,’ and let them go out and play."

It’s good to see Jake Elliott having a good season.

A successful day by the Eagles kicker is exactly what Birds fans have been looking for. To be blunt, ever since he signed his five-year, $21.8 million contract extension with Philadelphia through the 2024 season on November 27th of 2019, he’s been paid like the game’s best kicker but performing like a middle-tier guy.

Elliott made just under 74% of his kicks in 2020. Normally, it wasn’t the long boots that caused the issue (he was a perfect six-for-six on attempts between 30 and 39 yards and five-for-five on attempts between 40-49 yards). It was the chip shots that caused an issue.

Elliott only made one of three attempts between 20 and 29 yards during the 2020 season, and though anything over 50 yards can’t be seen as automatic, he was a very pedestrian two-for-five on his attempts from that distance. Two make matters worse, all of his misses seemed to come at the absolute worst times, when the Eagles absolutely needed to see him come through.

That isn’t what you’re looking for from a guy that’s making, on average, $7 million per season.

Jake Elliott can probably attest to this. More often than not, kickers are treated like they’re barely on the team until they’re called upon to make an all-important extra point, a field goal to put the game out of reach, or, dare we say, the game-winner. You can imagine how they feel when they feel like they have an opportunity to help the team out and they fail.

Jake Elliott, under Michael Clay’s watch, seems to have turned things around. He’s made 90 percent of his kicks in 2021 and one-hundred percent of his extra points. He’s been automatic over the past four weeks. Now, that’s more like it.

This is the guy that Philly thought they were getting when they signed him to a massive extension by a kicker’s standards. It’s nice to see him coming through and getting some recognition. Keep an eye on him versus the Giants in Week 12, The kicking game often plays a part in the outcome when these age-old rivals meet.