Stephen Gostkowski nearly had some competition with the New England Patriots.
Dan Carter toured Gillette Stadium in 2013 and met with Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who showed interest in signing the New Zealand rugby union star as a kicker. Carter detailed the meeting in a piece he wrote for The Telegraph.
“We walked into reception where they welcomed us by name, as if we were arriving for an appointment,” Carter wrote. “The next thing I knew, a couple of scouts came out, and asked, ‘Where are your boots?’ They thought I was there to try out for the team! I was floored, and a little wistful. Part of me would have liked nothing more than to give it a shot but I had just torn my Achilles tendon, and was months away from being able to kick again. …
“We chatted with the scouts a little more, then they said: ‘Mr Kraft wants to meet with you.’ Mr. Kraft was Robert Kraft, the team’s legendary owner who had bought them for £113 million in 1994 — at the time the highest price ever paid for a sports franchise. I couldn’t believe that this guy wanted to meet me.
“You could see how he’d become so successful, because he cut straight to the point with a series of very direct questions.
‘Do you want to play football?’
‘What are you going to bring to this team?’
‘Do you think you can make the transition to the NFL?’
Kraft said he wanted Carter to make a tape of his kicking, but the 33-year-old rugby union player decided against a move to the NFL. The San Francisco 49ers signed rugby union star Jarryd Hayne as a running back this offseason. Patriots safety Nate Ebner played for the United States national rugby union team before taking up football at Ohio State.
Read Carter’s full essay for The Telegraph >>
Thumbnail photo via Facebook/Dan Carter
