Josh Gable’s interesting football journey took him to Foxboro this past weekend for a tryout with the New England Patriots.
Gable, an Indoor Football League kicker who’s garnered online attention for his impressive trick-shot videos, recapped his Patriots visit Wednesday in a “SportsCenter” interview.
“I felt like it went well,” the 26-year-old Nebraska native said, via ESPN.com. “I got great feedback from the coaches. Joe Judge, the head special teams coach, we basically talked through everything. He helped me out with a lot.”
Gable previously played professional soccer in Italy and Belgium, and he clearly has a powerful leg, as evidenced by the videos of him booting 80-yard field goals (albeit uncontested ones). He chose not to disclose the distance of the longest field goal he made at his tryout, however.
“I don’t think I’m supposed to speak on that, but I feel like it was a pretty good distance,” he said, before adding: “Everything is top secret there (in New England).”
Gable left Gillette Stadium without a contract, though it’s possible the Patriots could offer him one at a later date. While he’s never played in the NFL, he said he’s garnered interest from “probably around eight teams” this offseason.
Stephen Gostkowski has handled kicking duties for the Patriots since 2006, but he was uncharacteristically erratic in 2016, converting just 84.4 percent of his field-goal attempts after drilling more than 91 percent in each of the previous three seasons. He also missed five extra points, including one in Super Bowl LI, after missing just one over his first 10 NFL seasons.
Gostkowski currently is the only kicker on New England’s 90-man roster.
Thumbnail screenshot via Vimeo/Josh Gable
