Before Joe Douglas can focus on who he plans to target in free agency come March, he’ll have a handful of in-house decisions to make.

The Jets have 32 players set to hit the open market this offseason. Some don’t figure to factor into New York’s plans for 2020, while it’s safe to assume the Jets would like to keep others around for a while. Either way, Douglas has a lot of work to do in his first offseason on the job.

Sam Ficken was an early season acquisition by the Jets after they moved on from Kaare Vedvik. It was a short-term kicker fix for the Jets that didn’t go very well. But if the Jets want to keep someone around that they’re familiar with, then Ficken is an option.

Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of holding onto Ficken for the 2020 season.

Pros of keeping him

There’s no denying that Ficken had a bad 2019 season, but keep in mind it was the first year he actually kicked a full season.

Ficken was 19-27 on field goal attempts and 23-26 on extra points. He struggled in field goals of 40 or more yards but was strong in kicks under 40 yards. However, there was improvement toward the end of the regular season. Three of the last six games Ficken was 100 percent on his field goal attempts.

So if the Jets believe that his end of year success can translate into next season, then it might warrant his return.

Cons of keeping him

The consistency and inability to kick long field goals hurts Ficken’s possibility of coming back next season.

He was just 10-17 on field goals of 40 or more yards in 2019. It’s not that he didn’t have the leg for them, but his accuracy was not very strong. His longest made field goal of the season came from 54 yards out, which in today’s NFL is not too far.

You simply can’t have kickers who are inconsistent and can’t kick long-range field goals in the NFL anymore, so it might be time to find a kicker who can.

The Verdict

More likely than not, the Jets are going to try to bring in a new kicker for 2020. You can’t have a revolving door of kickers keep coming in when things start to go south. While kicker is not a sexy position, they can be the difference between a win and a loss.

Ficken is an exclusive rights free agent, meaning the Jets only have to offer him the minimum in free agency. But it’s time to look for some stability at the position and bring someone in who can actually kick on a consistent basis.