Jets Signing K Matt Ammendola, Releasing K Sam Ficken

The New York Jets announced on Friday that they have signed K Matt Ammendola and released K Sam Ficken.

We've signed K Matt Ammendola and released K Sam Ficken.

— New York Jets (@nyjets) July 31, 2021

Ficken, 28, wound up signing on with the Jaguars in 2016 as an undrafted free agent out of Penn State. He lasted just over a month in Jacksonville before he was waived during the first round of roster cuts.

After a brief stint with the Chiefs, Ficken joined the Rams towards the end of 2018 after Greg Zuerlein suffered a season-ending injury. Los Angeles brought Ficken back on an exclusive rights contract, but he was waived coming out of the preseason.

The Seahawks signed Ficken to a futures contract heading into 2019 before placing him on waivers. Green Bay claimed Ficken and he ended up losing a competition with Mason Crosby for the starting job and was cut again. He caught on with the Jets and re-signed as an exclusive rights-free agent. 

In 2020, Ficken appeared in nine games for the Jets and converted 13 of 15 field-goal attempts and 12 of his 15 extra-point tries.

Ammendola, 24, wound up going undrafted out of Oklahoma State back in 2020. He was later signed by the Panthers and was set to compete with K Joey Slye for the starting job before being let go and signing with the Jets.

During his college career at Oklahoma State, Ammendola converted 60 of 78 field-goal attempts (76.9 percent) to go along with 179 of 183 extra-point tries (97.8 percent) over the course of four seasons and 42 games.