For a team that has been more stable than any team in the NFL the last 20 years at kicker, it’s uncharted water for the Patriots to be going into the Friday before a Sunday afternoon game with no place-kicker on the roster.
Since Stephen Gostkowski landed on IR with hip surgery, the Pats have had a wide cast of characters come through their building as potential replacements from Mike Nugent to Nick Folk to Kai Forbath and now possibly back to Nick Folk, but possibly not?
To clear up the #Patriots kicker tweets: Nick Folk, still a free agent at this point, is going to kick today to see how he feels. If he’s good to go, he’ll likely sign in NE. If not, it’ll be another week. … And that sums up all the kicker things for today.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 6, 2019
At this point, if the team ends up going into Sunday’s game against the Chiefs with only a punter, would anyone really be surprised? The kicking game has yet to really effect the team when it comes to winning or losing, but it’s only a matter of time before this problem comes back to bite the team when it matters most.
With Folk possibly being held back another week due to an appendectomy last week, the team may just trot out rookie punter Jake Bailey at kicker or forget the kicking game altogether and go for two after every touchdown and go for it on every fourth down when in field goal range.
So, they’ll either wait for Folk or maybe, just maybe, a return to Foxboro is in the cards for a certain New England legend. Adam Vinatieri seems to be on the outs in Indianapolis so a reunion between he and the Patriots wouldn’t be completely out of the question.
Nobody knows at this point, but one thing that’s for sure is that Bill Belichick isn’t going to confirm or deny any report. Ever.
After Reports that the #Patriots are expected to re-sign Nick Folk, Belichick "addresses" if there is any announcement to make… pic.twitter.com/f46Ddy2tSz
— NBC Sports Boston's Patriots Coverage (@NBCSPatriots) December 6, 2019
