FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Younghoe Koo's 2024 season did not go according to plan.
"I mean, not sugar coating, it was the worst season of my life," Koo said Thursday after the Falcons’ first practice of AT&T Training Camp.
Koo began the year on a tear. He converted his first nine kicks of the season, including a 4-for-4 performance against the New Orleans Saints that featured a career-long, 58-yard field goal to win the game in Week 4. He connected two more times from longer than 50 yards in Week 5 against Tampa Bay, but he also missed his first pair of kicks on the season.
The rest of Koo's season was marred by inconsistency and cut short due to injury. After going 2-of-3 in Atlanta's Week 15 win against the Las Vegas Raiders, Koo was placed on injured reserve. After the season, head coach Raheem Morris emphasized a necessity for improvement in the kicking.
"We missed entirely too many kicks this year," Morris said at his end-of-year press conference. "The brutal honest truth: That can't happen. So, we got to find ways to make those kicks. That certainly plays into the part of not winning the amount of games you want to win."
All told, Koo made just 73.5% of his field goal attempts in 2024, his lowest rate in his six seasons as a Falcon by a good margin. His performance led to public questions about the fan-favorite's future with the team.
Atlanta signed German kicker Lenny Krieg this offseason after an impressive showing at the NFL combine, bringing in the promised challenger. The competition is in place, and the coming weeks will determine the winner.
Physically, Koo is ready and told reporters he hasn't "felt any better" than he does at this point entering camp. With expectations for the offense high, the Falcons' kicker — whoever that may be — may have plenty of opportunities to put points on the board.
Koo, who is third on the team's all-time scoring list and 114 points behind Hall of Famer Morten Andersen, would like to be the one called upon to do so.
"I'm ready to get back to what I know what I'm capable of: being the best in the league," Koo said. "I know I can do that, just going back to the process of what I do, and yeah, I'll get back to that for sure."
Koo wasn't the only one striking a confident chord on Thursday. Prior to practice, Morris shared an optimistic outlook about Koo.
"I am really excited to see Younghoe have a bounce-back year and really excited to watch him come back" Morris said. "I've got so much confidence in Younghoe because I started with him. I've got so much confidence in Younghoe because I gave him his first opportunity. I've seen him battle through adversity, and I've seen him fight back, and I've seen him find a way to make it work."
Koo said it meant to world to him to have the support of his coaches and teammates, but he understands the nature of a competition and approaches each day with an earn-your-spot mindset, whether there's another kicker in the building or not.
The ability to block outside noise is critical for a kicker, and that skill is also beneficial at a time such as this for Koo. He has plenty of practice flushing the past and focusing on the future. This next month will have a heavy influence on what exactly that future holds.
"I have a great season, cool, move on," Koo said. "You have a bad season, cool. You just learn from it. Good or bad, learn from it and move on and get ready for the next season."
