6 Patriots on the Roster Bubble Heading Into Preseason Finale

3. Joey Slye, kicker

The kicking competition is still ongoing for the New England Patriots. The battle of Joey Slye vs. Chad Ryland rages on as the Patriots might have to say goodbye soon to a kicker in which they invested a fourth-round draft pick.

And Chad Ryland is a very talented kicker, there's no doubt about it. But the pendulum seems to be swinging in favor of veteran Joey Slye, who nailed a 51-yard kick against the Eagles. Still, Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo is keeping the state of this competition tight-lipped:

It's not the end of the world to cut a former fourth-round pick if you have the grounds to do so, but when you take a kicker in the fourth round? That's kind of like using a second-round pick on another position. Kickers don't always get drafted, and even some of the best ones -- if they get drafted at all -- are picked later on Day 3.

The Patriots are invested in Chad Ryland, and it's one of those situations where you almost just know that if or when he gets cut, he's going to go to another NFL city and find success. That's just kind of how it goes and we've seen that play out with a number of kickers.

Ultimately, the decision comes down to which kicker is going to help the Patriots win games now. They aren't worried about having their kicker for the next 15 years locked in. They saw Chad Ryland hit 60 percent of his field goal attempts last year and that's not going to cut it. The best player will win the job and that leaves both of these guys on the roster bubble with one game left to be played.