The Atlanta Falcons are 1-1 and will travel to play the Carolina Panthers in an NFC South showdown on Sunday. With the team making their final tweaks before gameday, they parted ways with a kicker.
NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reported on Friday that the Falcons are releasing veteran kicker Younghoe Koo. That means that Parker Romo will be their full-time kicker moving forward.
Falcons Release Veteran Kicker Younghoe Koo
Koo has been with the Falcons since the 2019 season and will end his Falcons career as the third-highest scoring player in team history (700). The last two seasons were shaky for Koo, though, which ultimately led to Friday's decision. In 2024, he went 25-of-34 on field goal attempts and struggled immensely from 40-49 yards away. He finished by going 5-of-11 from that range, then 6-of-9 from 50-plus yards away.
These kicking issues carried over to this season, as Koo went 1-of-2 in the season opener against the Bucs. In that contest, he missed a potential game-tying 44-yard field goal in the final seconds and doinked an extra-point attempt in.
The Falcons decided they couldn't rely on Yoo anymore, as they elevated Romo from the practice squad last week to make him the starter against the Vikings. In his debut versus the Vikings, Romo went 5-of-5, including makes from 38, 29, 33, 33, and 54 yards away.
"We're going to go with (Parker) Romo," Falcons coach Raheem Morris said Friday, via senior team reporter Tori McElhaney. "He earned it last week going 5-for-5, and you gotta go with that again."
That was enough for the Falcons to have confidence in him going forward, and they had to part ways with their long-time kicker. Koo was once a fan favorite who the team relied on, and he delivered. That was no longer a guarantee, and Atlanta couldn't have a kicker on the team that they didn't have faith in.
Despite being one of the best kickers in team history, he no longer had the faith of the coaching staff, and that ultimately was the right call. You can't head into these games and not have a kicker you can rely on.
Every point and possession matters in the NFL, and Raheem Morris is not messing around this season. Especially after the Falcons lost four games by one possession in 2024. Retaining Koo would have also sent a bad message to the locker room if the coach kept trotting out a kicker who was letting his teammates down time and time again.
We'll have to see if Romo can keep up the positive play, but with this move, the Falcons are showing the faith they have in him.