The longtime kicker for the Atlanta Falcons has been benched. Kicker Younghoe Koo has been downgraded to out for Sunday night’s game against the Minnesota Vikings, the team said on Saturday.
Parker Romo has been promoted from the practice squad to take his position. Romo, a native of Georgia who kicked for the Minnesota Vikings the previous season, was signed by the Falcons on Tuesday.
Last week, in the last seconds of the Falcons’ game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Koo missed a 44-yard field goal that would have knotted the score at 23. Against the Bucs, Koo made two of three field goals, but one of them bounced off the right upright. Koo’s exclusion has nothing to do with an injury.
After missing time due to a hip injury last season, Koo has only made 12 of 20 field goals in his last nine games. Last season, Koo, 31, missed nine field goals and only made 73.5%, which was his lowest percentage since joining Atlanta as a full-time kicker in 2019.
Once the league’s most accurate kicker, Koo now ranks No. 29 out of 31 in terms of field goal percentage (73%), among kickers who have attempted 20 or more field goals since the beginning of 2024. In his first NFL kick, Romo, 28, made 11 of 12 field goals in four games for Minnesota last season.
Romo was released on cut-down day after spending training camp with the New England Patriots.
