The New England Patriots were once a franchise that didn’t have to worry about replacing their kicker for upwards of 25 years from 1996-2019, with only two kickers during that frame in Adam Vinatieri and Stephen Gostkowski.
When Vinatieri became a free agent in 2006, they replaced him by drafting Gostkowski, who went on to kick in New England for the next 14 years and won three Super Bowls along the way, just like Vinatieri did over the 10 years prior.
The kicker in New England tends to get drafted and go on to become a legend for the team. It happened with Vinatieri and Gostkowski, but there hasn’t been a kicker to replace Gostkowski and that is the problem with the position.
Since 2019, after Gostkowski, the Patriots have had six different kickers, and they drafted one, but they haven’t been able to solidify the position for a while now. It’s something that’s new for the Pats and can be a surprise for the fans to see, as they’ve never had this problem before.
Hopefully, head coach Mike Vrabel can change that, as he drafted a kicker in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL Draft with Andres Borregales out of Miami.
Borregales earned the starting job as a freshman in 2021. Since then, he went on to make a bunch of big-time kicks during his career, including overtime, game-winners, and deep kicks in 50 career games for the Hurricanes.
He finished his four years at Miami as consistently as it gets. He went 183-of-184 on extra points, and he went 74-of-86 on field goals. His career-long is 56 yards.
Andres Borregales 56 yarder is GOOD!!
— Grant (@NMDgrant) September 28, 2024
Canes add 3 before the half pic.twitter.com/p0XniCk2vD
After being drafted 182nd overall, Borregales talked to the local media and said that he always looked up to Vinatieri and wanted to make big kicks like he did.
“All my life I looked up to Adam Vinatieri, legend honestly. And especially all those kicks in the snow and clutch kicks in the snow, actually. I can’t wait to experience that.”
During the interview, I thought it was interesting that Borregales knows the other kicker currently on the Patriots roster, John Parker Romo, with whom he’ll be in a competition for the job. Borregales, with a smile, said that he knows Romo from having the same trainer, Adam Tanalski.
#Patriots rookie kicker Andres Borregales knows John Parker Romo, the other kicker on the roster. They have the same trainer. Borregales is ready for the competition:
— Justin Trombino (@Trombino20) April 27, 2025
“Make the best man win.”
(🎥Patriots) #NEPats pic.twitter.com/Ogz3WJ88BL
"He went to Virginia Tech, I played him my freshman year. We train with the same coach, Adam Tanalski. So I’m good friends with him, I’m excited to get in there, and we’ll compete. Make the best man win."Andres Borregeales
As a player, Vrabel was on teams that won Super Bowls because of the kicker. Needless to say, he understands how important having a consistent kicker is and to have the player be on the team for the duration of his career and become a staple of the organization like Vinatieri and Gostkowski.
Borregales has shown that he can be the real deal, it’s time for him to prove it to the Patriots next.