As a young team with a new head coach and quarterback, the New York Jets are an easy team to root for, especially if you find it easy to sympathize with a long-suffering fanbase. The Jets’ pairing of first-time head coach Aaron Glenn with an electric young quarterback in Justin Fields has made waves all offseason, and everyone wants to see them succeed.

In fact, with how popular Fields already is as a player, it may come as a surprise that one analyst did not pick him as his favorite Jet to root for. Dan Parr, a content creator and writer for the NFL since 2013, put together a list of one player from each AFC team that anyone can root for, and his pick for the Jets was kicker Harrison Mevis, better known by his nickname: the ‘Thiccer Kicker’.

Defending his decision, Parr writes, “I’m not going to pass on a chance to pull for a guy known as the “Thiccer Kicker.” At 5-foot-11, 243 pounds, Mevis signed with the Jets last month after impressing (20 of 21 on field goals) in his first season with the UFL’s Birmingham Stallions. This is a second NFL chance for Mevis, who was in camp with the Panthers a year ago as an undrafted rookie out of Missouri, where he was a first-team All-American in 2021.”

The Jets signed Mevis to a one-year deal last month and paved a road for him to earn the starting job in 2025. They had already parted ways with Greg Zuerlein, who connected on just 77.7% of his field goal attempts over three years with the Jets, then released Anders Carlson the day after signing Mevis. Now, it’s a two-way battle between the Thiccer Kicker and undrafted free agent rookie Caden Davis.

Interestingly enough, Mevis is not the first kicker to move from a spring professional football league to the NFL. Brandon Aubrey spent two seasons in the United States Football League (USFL), also with the Birmingham Stallions, before signing with the Dallas Cowboys in 2023. He went on to be a wild success story, connecting on 94.7% of his field goals in his first NFL season and making a career-best 65 yarder just last year. He had a bit of a regression in 2024 but is still considered one of the league’s most reliable kickers.

It’s always easy to root for guys who take alternative routes to the NFL, such as playing in a spring league for very little money. Jets fans will of course be rooting for their kicker to succeed, but football fans everywhere should have an easy time rooting for the Thiccer Kicker.