After seeing last year's kicker, Joey Slye, sign with the Carolina Panthers in free agency, the Patriots no longer had an NFL-experienced kicker. The team partially addressed this need by spending its sixth-round pick on Andres Borregales, the best kicker in the draft. While at Miami, Andres set a school record with 405 career points and last year finished 5th in the FBS, converting on 17-18 of his field goal attempts, per NFL.com.
While he excelled at the college level, Borregales is unproven in the NFL and could benefit from learning under the tutelage of a proven kicker. Luckily, there is a proven kicker available in free agency, Nick Folk, who would be the perfect addition to the Pats' special teams unit.
Last season with the Tennessee Titans was Folk’s 18th in the NFL, and he performed as one of the best kickers in the league, converting on all of his extra-point attempts and finishing fifth in the league by making 95.5% of his field goals. These stats led to Folk’s highest PFF grade of his career of 87.7, which ranked eighth amongst NFL kickers. Folk also has experience kicking in Foxborough, having played four seasons with the Patriots from 2019 to 2022.
Before the 2022 season, former Patriots head coach Bill Belichick had this to say about Nick Folk:
"He's got a real steady, professional approach to all of it. Knows what he wants to do, knows what he has to do, but he doesn’t overanalyze it or make too big of a production out of it… Nick's a really, really smart kicker. He's really smart."Bill Belichick
Fast forward to the present, and the Pats find themselves with another coach who prioritizes internal development for his players. Bringing in a seasoned veteran in Nick Folk, who can be a mentor to Borregales and show him the ins and outs of being a kicker in the NFL, will help Andres transition smoothly into the NFL.
Signing Nick Folk isn’t just smart, it will help set up the Patriots for success at the kicker position for years to come.