Jets release Cairo Santos with kicker now healthy

Former Kansas City Chiefs and current New York Jets kicker Cairo Santos finally is fully healthy, but the team released him Wednesday.

Coach Todd Bowles said they decided to release Santos because he wasn't ready to kick Friday night against the New York Giants, adding that it would've be difficult to include him on the 53-man roster without seeing him in the preseason.

Santos, who signed with the Jets earlier this year, hasn't been able to kick in training camp because of a chronic groin issue. He is 90-of-107 on field goal attempts in his career and has made 127 of 132 extra-point tries.

The Jets claimed kicker Jason Myers on waivers from the Seattle Seahawks on Tuesday.

The Jets expect Myers to play Friday night.

The team also was scheduled to work out former Minnesota Vikings kicker Kai Forbath on Wednesday, a source told ESPN's Field Yates. Forbath was released by the Vikings earlier this week.Forbath booted a career-high 32 field goals in 2017, which included six from 50 yards or further. He struggled at times with extra points, however, going 34-of-39 on such kicks. His five misses were the most in the NFL in 2017.

Rookie Taylor Bertolet is having a solid camp, but he has no regular-season experience.

"Bertolet has been doing a good job, obviously, but we want to take a look at two more guys because he's been the only one kicking," Bowles said. "We want to see him compared to somebody else, so we brought a few guys in."

Myers, who lost a competition to Sebastian Janikowski, made 81 percent of his field goals with the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2015-2017. He was cut midway through last season when he hit a slump.

In March, the Jets signed Santos to a one-year, $2 million contract, which included a $500,000 signing bonus.

ESPN's Rich Cimini and Courtney Cronin contributed to this report.