Three sets of statistical trends, records, marks and highlights by the Jets following their season-ending 35-8 loss to the Bills at Highmark Stadium on Sunday. Today: Season Wrap Part I — Special Teams
The Returns Are In
There was an outside shot for Isaiah Williams and even his return partner Kene Nwangwu to win a showdown with Buffalo's Ray Davis for the NFL's kick-return crown. And it seemed perhaps Williams might be named the NFL's No. 1 KOR by average with his fourth-quarter 49-yard return combined with Davis, the leader going into the game, being limited to one 22-yard runback.
Alas, the numbers were not to be. But even though Williams didn't catch Davis' 30.4 yards/return, he did finish second among the league's qualifying returners at 29.9, along with a fifth-place finish with a 14.1-yard punt-return average. Nwangwu, as we've mentioned, would have won the title with his 33.6 average but didn't have enough returns to qualify. However, the dynamic duo led a 29.9 team average that enabled the Jets to lead the NFL for only the second time since 1991.
Williams additionally has the fourth-best kickoff-return average and the third-best punt-return average in franchise history and the best PR average in 23 seasons, or since Santana Moss notched a 16.5 average in 2003. (Titans great Dick Christy holds the PR mark with 21.3 in 1961 and Joe McKnight set the KO record with his 31.6 in 2011.)
A-Mac: Hang 'Em High
First-year man Austin McNamara assembled arguably one of the best punting seasons in franchise history. His gross average was a middle-of-the-pack 45.7 yards, but his suite of net numbers was stunning.
A-Mac's 43.2-yard net average was sixth in the NFL and busted the franchise record of 41.8 set two seasons ago by Thomas Morstead, his 32 inside-the-20 punts were second in the league, and his hang time, which he prides himself on, was sky-high. Statspass.com unofficially pegged McNamara's average hangtime at 4.76 seconds, second in the league to the 4.84 of the Chargers' JK Scott.
We unofficially charted McNamara's season average at 4.79, the best since we started recording Jets hang times in 2003, while his 19 kicks of 5.00-plus seconds, again unofficially, topped Steve Weatherford's 18 skyhooks in 2010.
And to give STC Chris Banjo and the punt cover team (many of whom also opened seams for Williams on the punt-return team) some credit, the Jets were second in the NFL in opponents' fair catches (23) and easily led the league in most punts downed (18). Qwan'tez Stiggers was a quality cover man with a team-high 6 punts downed and 8 special teams tackles. Mykal Walker topped the Jets with 10 ST tackles and Andrew Beck logged the most time on the field with 319 ST snaps.
Nick, One More Time
Nick Folk had to endure a rare game where he was a "Did Not Play" for the Bills. He was ready, willing and able to add to his legacy but the Jets attempted no placements in the game and McNamara has been handling kickoffs exclusively since midseason.
But 2025 was still an incredible continuation of Folk's recent excellence among the NFL's kickers. His individual accuracy and the Jets' team percentage of 96.6% were both No. 1 in the league this season. (He tied the 49ers' Eddy Piñeiro, the Jets kicker for 5 games in '21, for the individual title, his third in 3 years.)
Folk remains the league's most accurate kicker over these past 3 seasons at 96.3% by hitting 78 of his 81 FG attempts, and he set the team season records for most walkoff FG kicks (6 with his 56-yard game-winner vs. Atlanta) and most 50-yard FGs in a season (7), while extending his record for the most 50-plus makes in a Jets career (25).
And if Folk returns for a 19th season in '26, one of his first kicks will be from 39 yards or closer, and if he makes it, he would extend his NFL-record streak of consecutive FGs from under 40 yards to a perfect 100-for-100.
Next Week: Season Wrap Part II — Offense and Defense
