Living the Dream: A Scout's Path to the NFL
The journey wasn't easy, but punter Kai Kroeger begins his new job as a New York Jet.
The weekend of the NFL Draft, Kai Kroeger didn’t know what to expect.
The former Lake Forest Scout and South Carolina Gamecock was at his parents’ home in Lake Forest. The first two days of the draft, April 24 and 25, Kroeger’s agent, Jake Presser, had been fielding calls from interested teams. The majority of players were picked on the final day, April 26, a Saturday.
“I didn’t expect to hear (if drafted) until Saturday,” the 23-year-old Kroeger said in a phone interview with the Scouts Football newsletter. “(Presser) told me, ‘Hey, be ready, it’s a fun process. Enjoy it.’”
An All-SEC punter for South Carolina, pre-draft speculation was all over the map. Some projections had Kroeger, a left-footed, 6-foot-3, 220-pound punter, being taken in the draft. Others slated Kroeger as a free agent signee. After a lengthy and arduous pre-draft process, which saw Kroeger fly all over the country to work out for NFL teams, his draft fate would finally be resolved by the afternoon of April 26.
That morning, Kroeger went to Forest Park beach for a cold plunge. He spent the remainder of the day “on my couch waiting (for a call).”
That call—that he had been drafted—never came. But soon after the final draft pick was announced, Kroeger reset his mind. The draft was over—no time to wallow in what didn’t happen.
“Every five minutes, I’m on the phone with my agent asking, ‘What am I going to do?’ I waited a few days and picked where I was going and what teams have minicamps that would be good situations,” Kroeger said. “For me, it’s ‘what’s the next thing?’”
That next thing was flying to Philadelphia the first weekend in May to work out for the Super Bowl champion Eagles. The following weekend, May 9 and 10, Kroeger got on a plane again and flew to Houston. The Texans were holding a mini-camp and wanted to see Kroeger kick.
After the mini-camp, on his way back to Columbia, South Carolina, where Kroeger still keeps a residence, he was in touch with his agent. Presser told him the Texans were interested.
“It seemed Houston was going to sign me pretty soon,” Kroeger said.
With leverage in hand, Presser fielded an offer from a competing AFC team.
The New York Jets wanted Kroeger in New York immediately. But not for a tryout. They were prepared to offer him a contract.
Kroeger had kicked for the Jets before the draft. But there had been little contact with the franchise since then.
“My agent tells (the Jets) that Houston was going to pull the trigger unless you offer (a contract). He told them, ‘You’ve seen him kick, and you know what he can do,’” Kroeger said. “It put them (Jets) in a situation where they know (Houston) is going to sign me or I’m going to go somewhere else.”
Kroeger arrived back in Columbia from Houston on May 11. While packing his bags for New York, the contract was emailed to Kroeger. He reviewed the document, and then on the evening of May 12, he flew to New York City, landing at JFK airport and arriving at his hotel at 3 am on the morning of May 13.
Three hours later, he got picked up at his hotel and headed to the Jets headquarters in Florham Park, New Jersey. For several hours, he went through physicals and hospital scans. At about noon, he signed the contract.
Sitting in the recovery room later that day with another free-agent punter, Kroeger admits to finally verbalizing the enormity of the moment.
“I didn’t have time to think of my emotions,” Kroeger said. “We did say (in the recovery room), ‘wow, we are finally here.’ Not that we’ve made the team, but that we are in a position to make the team. Nothing is for sure in this business, and I was happy to enjoy it for a little bit, but not too much, or get too comfortable.”
To sign Kroeger, the Jets released veteran punter Thomas Morstead. The 39-year-old Morstead won a Super Bowl with the New Orleans Saints in 2009. Kroeger replacing Morstead added another emotional layer to his NFL journey.
“I grew up watching (Morstead), he was my favorite punter, and they let him go and they sign me. I’m now taking over the guy I looked up to my entire life,” Kroeger said. “A full circle moment for me.”
The Jets held a mandatory mini-camp in June. Kroeger spent several days at his new employer’s facility, getting to know his teammates, coaches, and training staff. None of it was overwhelming—having spent five seasons as a punter for an SEC program, Kroeger is familiar with highly resourced football organizations.
After being around the team, he said there are similarities between college and the NFL. But there are noticeable differences as well.
“The practice part is pretty much the same as in college or even high school. But things are much more specialized (in the NFL). In special teams meetings, coaches are asking questions, and the players are asking questions, and everybody knows what they are supposed to do. The workouts are specified to (each positional group), and their deficiencies and what they have to improve,” Kroeger said. “Everyone is a pro or an adult, and if you don’t do what you are supposed to do, they will just cut you or fine you. Everyone is so engaged. It’s more chill (NFL) but serious at the same time.”
Kroeger said the Jets signed him because they like his ability to execute different kinds of punts. The special teams coaches have already discussed with him concepts for fake punts, a niche area of special teams play where Kroeger made a name for himself at South Carolina.
Later this week, Kroeger reports for training camp in New Jersey. Kroeger and the Jets play the Packers in Green Bay on August 9 in their first preseason game of the 2025 season. When Kroeger makes his first punt in that game, his parents, Fred and Monica, and other family and friends will be in attendance at Lambeau Field. The moment will mark both an end and a beginning for the NFL rookie: a boyhood fantasy come true represents one end. As for the beginning, Kroeger will be just another excited young adult working at his new job, the future and its possibilities endless. Only his job requires performing in front of tens of thousands of spectators watching his every move.
“There’s been a lot of ups and downs. You have to keep a positive mindset,” Kroeger said. “I’m very fortunate to go through the process and live out my lifelong dream and play in the NFL.”
Last week, Kroeger spent some time at Varsity Field, helping out at the high school football practices.
Kroeger played varsity football for the Scouts in 2018 and ‘19, punting and playing wide receiver. Thursday, Coach Spagnoli brought the team together for a huddle.
In typical Spagnoli fashion, he proposed a competition.
“He gave some story about how I’d buy everyone an ice cream if (they) caught a punt,” Kroeger said.
When the first returner caught the punt, the players “went crazy.” Kroeger thought he’d be out of pocket for dozens of ice creams. But a double-or-nothing offer was proposed. Kroeger accepted, and he made a slight tweak to the second punt.
He launched a harder-to-return ’banana”-style kick into the air. An offensive lineman could not corral the ball upon its descent. Kroeger escaped without an expensive trip to Sweet’s.
“I missed out on the fake ice cream story,” Kroeger said.
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