Sports

Patriots release K Mike Nugent, reportedly sign K Nick Folk as replacement

By David Souza

New York Jets kicker Nick Folk, right, kicks a field goal during the second half of an NFL football game against the New England Patriots Sunday, Dec. 21, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

By David Souza

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The New England Patriots have reportedly made a pair of moves at their kicking position on the day of the NFL's trading deadline.

And while they did not make any additions or subtractions via trade on Tuesday, the Patriots did announce that they released K Mike Nugent after four games with the team. Nugent's release comes two days after the kicker went 2-for-4 on field goals in New England's 27-13 win over the Cleveland Browns.

In total, Nugent made five of the eight field goals he attempted with the Patriots, while converting 15 of 16 extra points. The 37-year-old signed a one-year, $1.03 million contract with the team back on October 3.

With Nugent released and longtime kicker Stephen Gostkowski likely out for the season after being placed on Injured Reserve with a reported hip injury, the Patriots did apparently not wait long to bring in their next kicker.

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported that the team signed veteran free agent K Nick Folk to take over the kicking duties for the team. His report came out just before 5 p.m. on Tuesday evening.

The team has not confirmed or announced the signing at this time.

The soon to be 35-year-old Folk has not kicked in the NFL since 2017 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Folk played for three teams in 11 seasons in the NFL since his rookie year in 2007. He was a member of the New York Jets for seven years while playing three seasons in Dallas and his 2017 season in Tampa Bay.

Folk was selected to the Pro Bowl as a rookie in 2007, according to ProFootballReference, an online stat aggregator.

Out of his 305 attempted field goals in his career, Folk converted on 245 of them - an 80.3% conversion rate. The kicker also converted 342 of his 346 extra-point attempts (98.8%), though he is 50-of-54 (92.6%) since the NFL moved the required distance for an extra-point attempt in 2015.

Against the Patriots, Folk was a perfect 26-of-26 on extra points and 26-of-35 (74.3%) on field goal attempts in his 15 games, per ProFootballReference.

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