For LSU fans who remember Death Valley on Saturday nights in 2019, Cade York’s name still lands with a familiar thud.
The former Tigers kicker, a piece of the program’s last national championship team, was waived by the New York Jets as the club handed the job to veteran Jason Sanders.
York signed with the Jets in March on a one-year deal after Nick Folk left for Atlanta. He spent the summer in a tight competition that never quite settled.
Special teams coordinator Chris Banjo said the team was “moving on from Cade,” while adding that York “did a great job for us all throughout training camp” and in the preseason games. Sanders, Banjo said, brought more experience kicking in the AFC East.
That is the NFL kicker life in miniature. One year you are a fourth-round pick with a cannon leg. The next you are on your seventh organization.
York, now 25, has already worn Browns, Titans, Giants, Commanders, Bengals, Saints, and Jets colors. His career field-goal mark sits at 33-of-45 (73.3 percent), with a 59-yarder for Cincinnati in 2024 that tied a franchise record. The accuracy that made him a first-team All-SEC and second-team All-American selection at LSU has been harder to bottle at the next level.
Tiger fans do not need the NFL résumé to remember why they rooted for him. York arrived in Baton Rouge as a two-star from Prosper, Texas, and left as a three-year starter.
Over 37 games, he hit 56 of 66 field goals (81.8 percent) and 164 of 168 extra points. He was a freshman on the 2019 title team, then a Lou Groza Award semifinalist in 2020. Fifteen makes from 50-plus yards in purple and gold still look like the player who could pin an opposing coach to the sideline from midfield.
With the Jets he opened preseason 2-for-2 against Tampa Bay, the longest from 38 yards. A missed 59-yard try against Pittsburgh and uneven practice days followed.
Both he and Sanders missed kicks in camp; the Jets simply chose the résumé they trusted more. York’s contract carried no guaranteed money, so the cut is clean on New York’s books.
From Baton Rouge, the story is familiar and unfinished. LSU has sent plenty of specialists into the league only to watch them ricochet from roster to roster. York still has the leg.
He is young enough that another team with a shaky kicking situation will call. For now he is a free agent again, another Tiger whose college nights were louder than his professional ones.
The hope among the faithful is simple: the next stop sticks. Geaux Tigers.
