The New England Patriots will likely have a new starting kicker for the 2025 season after rolling with veteran Joey Slye, who beat out Chad Ryland for the starting job in training camp before the 2024 season.
According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, the Patriots haven’t had any movement towards a deal with Slye, who is an unrestricted free agent. Therefore, New England will plan to go with John Parker Romo before adding competition in weeks and months ahead.
"With incumbent kicker Joey Slye an unrestricted free agent, and no movement toward a deal, the Patriots currently plan to move forward with John Parker Romo as their lone kicker under contract before likely adding competition in the coming weeks/months, according to sources familiar with their thinking.Mike Reiss
"
The 27-year-old Romo played four games this past season with the Minnesota Vikings. The former XFL kicker made 11-of-12 field goals and 7-of-8 extra points attempts.
The Vikings cut Romo on December 7, but he wasn’t a free agent for long. The Patriots signed Romo to their practice squad a few days later. Romo did not appear in the remaining regular season games with the Patriots, but they signed him to a reserve/futures deal in early January.
Meanwhile, the 28-year-old Slye struggled somewhat this past season in Foxborough. The veteran kicker made 78.8 percent of his field goals (26-of-33) – the second-lowest mark of his career.
However, Slye was almost perfect on extra point attempts in 2024 with a 96.2 percent (25-of-26) conversion rate (highest in his career). The veteran kicker was reliable from 20-39 yards out, only missing two field goals from that distance (15-of-17).
But when the Patriots asked Slye to make kicks from 50-plus yards out, he missed three field goals, which still isn’t bad (6-of-9).
That said, new Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel and the rest of the coaching staff likely want to see how Romo performs in minicamp and OTAs before making any changes. Last season with the Cleveland Browns, Vrabel saw the impact of a struggling kicker in Dustin Hopkins; he'll hope that Romo can build off what he did with the Vikings in 2025.
Meanwhile, Pats fans will wait to see where Slye plays next season as there aren’t many starting kicking jobs available.