Add Nick Folk to the long list of Green & White players who have already stopped by the Jets House since it first opened its doors Wednesday morning.
The veteran kicker entering his eighth NFL season flew from Dallas to New York City this afternoon to check out the Big Apple's festivities for a few days, but he'll return by Super Bowl Sunday to continue with his top offseason priority: hanging out with his six-month-old fraternal twin boys.
"I get to give my wife a little break, which is great," Folk said. "She knew it was football mode during the season and she was a rock star. Now I'm just happy because I have the opportunity to help her do stuff, and it's been a lot of fun."
The kids are named Gage and Davis, although sometimes Nick and his wife, Julianne, simply refer to them as "Pickles" because, he said with a smile, "they can be a little sour at times."
Interestingly, the kicker's kids will be baptized on the morning of the Super Bowl due to the actions of another NFL kicker.
"As soon as the Baltimore Ravens [and K Justin Tucker] made that kick to beat Detroit and we knew we couldn't make the playoffs, my wife and I made the plans to have the baptism this weekend," Folk said.
Post-baptism, the Folks will be hosting a Super Bowl party for friends and family at their house, where they will get a chance to see the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks play in Jets House Version 1.0 — MetLife Stadium.
Unlike most games played at that venue, Folk's indifferent toward which team comes out on top.
He did, however, express his opinion on which qualities he hopes will be included in whoever takes over for Ben Kotwica as our new special teams coordinator, and he's looking for more of the same.
"Someone who kind of takes over who Rex [Ryan] is," he said. "That's the kind of person that guys want to play for. Someone with a lot of energy and passion who's willing to listen to his players. That's kind of who DT [Dennis Thurman] is, and the defense loves playing for him. I think Marty [Mornhinweg] is kind of taking over that persona, too."
Communication between kicker and coordinator could be key for Folk to build off of what was perhaps the best season of his career.
With Kotwica, he explained, there was a mutually supported effort to cut down on the number of kicks Folk attempted in a week throughout the season.
"I had talked to a bunch of guys around the league and took notes on how often they were kicking," Folk said. "I determined that we had been doing too much, I talked to Ben, and we figured out a plan."
The plan worked. Folk missed three field goal attempts all season. Whether or not the new coordinator allows him to stick to the plan or not next year — and whether or not the unrestricted free agent will be back with the Jets for 2014 — remains to be seen.
