{"id":73533,"date":"2019-09-22T23:21:20","date_gmt":"2019-09-23T03:21:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/?p=73533"},"modified":"2021-05-24T06:48:56","modified_gmt":"2021-05-24T10:48:56","slug":"stephen-gostkowski-best-kicker-option-new-england-patriots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2019\/09\/22\/stephen-gostkowski-best-kicker-option-new-england-patriots\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Gostkowski the Best Kicker Option for New England Patriots"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New England Patriots<\/a> have basically perfect through three weeks of action, with one glaring exception. Longtime kicker Stephen Gostkowski<\/a><\/strong> is having a rough season, most recently missing an extra-point attempt against the New York Jets. This wasn\u2019t his first miss of the season, as the 14-year veteran missed a field goal and two extra points in Week 2\u2019s matchup against the Miami Dolphins.<\/p>\n

Gostkowski isn\u2019t the kicker he once was, but he\u2019s still the best option for the 2019 New England Patriots. When looking at salary, possible alternatives, and the overall value of kickers, there is no reason to try to move on from the three-time Super Bowl champion. For better or worse, this team needs to stick with Gostkowski for at least the remainder of the season.<\/p>\n

Stephen Gostkowski the Best Kicker Available for New England Patriots<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Stephen Gostkowski Cap Hit<\/h3>\n

Over the offseason, the Patriots signed Gostkowski to a two-year, $8.5 million dollar contract. This deal actually served as decent value for New England, as his $3.05 million cap hit is the 13th<\/sup>-highest in the NFL.<\/p>\n

However, that relatively low cap number comes with a caveat. If the Patriots released Gostkowski, they\u2019d have to carry a $3.5 million cap hit for the remainder of the season. According to @patscap, New England currently has just $1.8 million in available spending space. As the season goes on, that number will go down thanks to emergency injury signings. Quite simply, New England doesn\u2019t have the financial flexibility to add an additional $450,000 in dead money while also adding a kicker, and his associated salary, to the payroll. Devoting this many resources into the kicker position simply isn’t smart team-building.<\/p>\n

Of course, this hypothetical also assumes that the Patriots are actually able to find an upgrade. Kicking at an NFL level is no easy task, and there already aren’t enough good kickers to go around. Roughly half the teams in the NFL aren\u2019t comfortable with their kickers, yet they can\u2019t do anything about it simply because there aren\u2019t any better options.<\/p>\n

Even if there was a kicker who had better numbers than Gostkowski, that doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019ll be better moving forward. Kickers are notoriously volatile and their success typically doesn’t translate from one season to the next. Trying to scout kickers is next to impossible, simply because the variation from season to season is impossible to predict.<\/p>\n

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But THE most important point, and the point to take away if nothing else, is that a kicker's accuracy last year tells you close to nothing about his accuracy the next year! Kickers regress to the mean. pic.twitter.com\/JFIy3wWBUM<\/a><\/p>\n

— John L (@ChiBearsStats) August 12, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n