The Jets have placed the franchise tag on placekicker Nick Folk, the team announced Friday.

In 2013, Folk made a career-high 33 field goals on 36 attempts for a career-high 91.7 percent accuracy, including a perfect 3 for 3 on 50-yard tries. He also hit all 27 of his extra-point tries.

The Panthers have signed kicker Graham Gano to a four-year contract, the team announced Friday.

"The special teams unit was a large part of our success last year, and we are excited to keep Graham as a part of our team," Panthers coach Ron Rivera said. "Graham has shown range and accuracy in his field goal kicking, and his strong leg has been a weapon for us on kickoffs."

In 2013, Gano played in all 16 games for Carolina, converting 24 of 27 field goal attempts to establish a career high with an 88.9 field goal percentage. Gano set a franchise record and tied for the NFL lead for the most made field goals of 50 yards or more with six. He was the only kicker in the NFL with more than three attempts from 50-plus yards without a miss from that distance.

Gano placed 76 of 82 kickoffs in the end zone with 63 touchbacks to lead the NFL with a 77.8 touchback percentage, the highest touchback percentage in the NFL since 1994.

The Saints signed kicker Shayne Graham to a one-year contract Saturday, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. He will be paid the veteran minimum of $955,000, after signing with the Saints in december and playing in four games. 

Graham connected on both of his field-goal attempts in the regular season and 4 of 6 in the postseason, while making 10 extra-point attempts. 

Jets kicker Nick Folk, who is an unrestricted free agent, would like to return to the team, reports NJ.com.

"I think it’s just kind of going to be a little bit longer before anything happens there," Folk said of any movement on a new contract. "I want to keep all the options open, but, yeah, we've been there for four years now. We like it. I love playing for Rex (Ryan), and this year with [general manager John Idzik] was awesome, it was a lot of fun. It's a good, young group of guys. We really enjoy New Jersey/New York. We'd love to stay; I think they'd love to have us stay."

The Panthers could lose kicker Graham Gano to free agency this offseason, reports ESPN. 

Gano would like to return to Carolina, but the report said he will do what's best for his family financially. 

Nick Folk is coming off a career year -- he nailed 27 of 33 field goals -- and is set for free agency. But will the Jets pony up for him? ESPN notes the team typically does not extend rich deals to their kickers so it could mean he'll test the market. 

There are 12 teams with openings at kicker at this time.  

Several Broncos who were listed as probable on the injury report are active for the Super Bowl, including cornerbacks Tony Carter (shoulder) and Kayvon Webster (thumb), defensive tackles Terrance Knighton (knee) and Mitch Unrein (knee) and kicker Matt Prater (illness). All were able to practice fully last week.

Broncos kicker Matt Prater, who missed three straight practices last week with an illness, will practice Monday, reports the Denver Post. "Hopefully, in another day or two, I'll be back to normal," Prater said Sunday.

Prater described the illness as "some kind of flu or something."

Broncos kicker Matt Prater contracted a virus that caused him to miss three straight practices last week, but he is flying with the team to New Jersey and will play in the Super Bowl, reports the Denver Post.

The paper notes that the last time Prater visited MetLife Stadium, in Week 2, he had five of his eight kickoffs returned by the Giants. That was highly unusual for Prater, who led the league with 81 touchbacks. Denver's kickoff coverage unit has not had to make a tackle since Dec. 29 at Oakland.

An illness prevented Broncos placekicker Matt Prater from his third consecutive practice on Saturday. Prater was in the building, but was sent home, according to ESPN. The only other non-participant was defensive tackle Sione Fua (calf).