New York Jets: Scouting Jets kicker Spencer Shrader

The New York Jets recently signed kicker Spencer Shrader to their practice squad following Greg Zuerlein's struggles/injury, although they opted to give Riley Patterson the kicking duties ahead of Shrader in Thursday night's game. Let's look at Shrader in more detail.

The 25-year old Shrader is listed at 6'2" and 201 pounds and was undrafted out of Notre Dame this year. Shrader has kicked in one regular season game, during which he made 3-of-3 kicks (all extra points). He made 68 percent of his field goals in college, where he played four years at USF before transferring to Notre Dame last year.

Shrader originally tried to become a professional soccer player before a broken ankle ended those hopes and so he instead decided to walk on at South Florida.

He only made 8-of-15 field goals in his first two seasons, but only missed on one of his 24 extra points.

In his third season, Shrader didn't miss a kick until week 10 and ended up making 11-of-13 on field goals and all 35 of his extra points. He was perfect again on extra points in his fourth year, but missed four of 13 field goals.

At the end of the 2022 season, Shrader entered the transfer portal and spent his final season with Notre Dame where he made 15 of his 22 field goals and 61 of 62 extra points.

After the draft, Shrader was picked up by the Indianapolis Colts as an undrafted free agent. Colts special teams coordinator Brian Mason had been at Notre Dame when Shrader first started looking into transferring there, although he had left by the time that transfer was finalized.

In preseason, Shrader made all six of his kicks and ended up on the Colts' practice squad, but he got a chance to make his NFL debut on opening day due to an injury. He made all of his three extra point attempts in that game but did not attempt any field goals.

Having been released from the Colts' practice squad earlier in October, Shrader was one of several kickers to work out for the Jets in light of Zuerlein's issues and signed to the practice squad last week.

Let's move onto some more in-depth analysis of what Shrader brings to the table, based on in-depth research and film study.

Measurables/Athleticism

Shrader is two inches taller and 10 pounds heavier than Patterson. He didn't do an athletic workout at the combine or his pro day, but is a pretty good athlete for a kicker.

Leg Strength

Unlike Patterson, Shrader is known for having a big leg. Although his longest field goal in college was only a 54-yarder, he came close on some longer attempts that had the distance.

The 54-yarder that he did make was good enough to break the Notre Dame school record and came in wet conditions.

He impressed in preseason when he nailed this 56-yarder which comfortably had the distance.

Notre Dame's special teams coordinator confirmed in an interview last year that Shrader has range out to 60-65 yards, and Shrader claims to have once made a 75-yarder in practice while at USF, albeit with a heavy wind behind him.

At 68 percent, Shrader's accuracy at the collegiate level was 20 points lower than Patterson's success rate at the NFL level. However, he has made all nine of his kicks at the pro level, including preseason.

He can be streaky, as he went through the first nine games without a miss in 2021 but also had four misses in one game in college.

Shrader is pretty much untested in clutch situations, as he's never had a game-winner at the college or pro level. The only time he had a kick with the game on the line was against Florida in 2022 saw him miss the kick, although it wasn't entirely his fault.

There were a couple of games in college where his team lost by three after he had missed a kick earlier in the game.

Shrader has showcased a big leg on kickoffs and was once fourth in the nation with a touchback rate of over 80 percent.

However, the following season saw him transfer to Notre Dame where they use directional kicking and that percentage dropped to 66 percent.

He had a similar experience in preseason with the Colts, as none of his 10 kickoffs in preseason were touchbacks because they obviously wanted to give the coverage units work. However, in his regular season appearance all five of his kickoffs were touchbacks.

Shrader only had two tackles in his college career, which was five less than Patterson. However, his higher touchback percentage obviously meant he had fewer opportunities to do this.

Shrader had a couple of punt reps in his first year in college so he would be well-equipped to step in and handle these duties in the event of an injury.

He even punted (and served as the holder on the placekicking unit) a couple of times in preseason, at one point launching this 63-yarder.

Intangibles/Miscellaneous

Shrader's athletic ability has seen him handling the ball a few times on fakes. He caught a seven-yard pass and had two rushes for 23 yards including this touchdown.

At one point during his college career, he insisted on a change of holders after some early season misses.

Shrader has plenty of off-field pursuits as well, running three businesses that he set up while in college.

Shrader is an interesting addition to couple with the Patterson signing because they definitely bring different things to the table.

While they are both the same age, Shrader hasn't had as many opportunities at the NFL level yet and may have more of an upside than the reliable but not big-legged Patterson.

Whether Shrader will impress enough in practice to get an opportunity to kick for the team before Zuerlein returns or to return to the team next year when a job might be up for grabs depends on him. It may also depend heavily on how Patterson does.