Jake Elliott is just another thing for Philadelphia Eagles fans to be disappointed about.
Once upon a time, Jake Elliott looked like one of the best practice squad steals in Philadelphia Eagles history.
A former fifth-round pick out of Memphis, Elliott took over for an injured Caleb Sturgis in Week 2 of the 2017 NFL season and promptly etched himself into the annals of Eagles history by knocking down a walk-off, 61-yard field goal to seal a 27-24 win over the New York Giants the very next week.
From there, Elliott knocked down 52 of his 62 field goal attempts and 72 of his 77 extra pointers and was given a five-year, $19.3 million extension to remain with the team through the 2024 season midway through the 2019 season.
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Fun fact: Elliott has the fourth richest contract of any kicker in the NFL – think of that what you will.
However, since securing the bag, it hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing for the 5-foot-9 Western Springs, Illinois native.
While it’s pretty safe to say 2020 hasn’t been a banner year for anyone, Elliott’s year has been particularly brutal. Through the first 12 weeks of the 2020 season, Elliott has missed five of his 15 field goal attempts, with some, like a would-be 29-yard gimme against the Giants, being particularly brutal.
Not so fun fact: Elliott’s 71.4 field goal percentage currently ranks 31st out of 32 kickers. *Spoiler alert*, that isn’t the kind of production teams normally expect from the fourth highest-paid kicker in the game.
To make matters worse, Elliott missed an extra point in the Eagles’ Week 12 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, his fifth. Did that missed extra pointer cost the Eagles the game? Most certainly not, that falls mostly on the offense, but it’s no coincidence the Eagles only scored again on a flukey Hail Mary from that point on.
You’d best believe even if 10 percent of the Linc was filled with fans, the boos would have drowned out ESPN’s Monday Night Football Announce team.
Had Elliott been more consistent, maybe Pederson would have kicked a field goal to make the game 20-12 as opposed to a brutal fourth-down attempt that ended with an end-zone interception; Wentz’s 15th interception of the season.
Needless to say, the Eagles may want to escort Elliott to his car tonight, as a legion of angry South Philly fans may swarm his car like the penultimate scene of The Dead Don’t Die.
Look, at this point, pretty much anything that can go wrong will go wrong for the Philadelphia Eagles. Jeffery Lurie isn’t happy, the fans aren’t happy, and there’s a very real possibility proverbial heads will roll when if the team doesn’t make it out of the regular season to represent the horrendous NFC East in the playoffs. Jake Elliott’s deterioration from fan-favorite to despised totem is simply a mascot for an otherwise ugly ordeal.