FOXBORO, Mass. — The New England Patriots swapped out one kicker for another Friday morning.
The Patriots cut Nick Folk one day after he had his appendix removed. That move made room for the Patriots to sign Kai Forbath.
“We’ll do introductions and get to know everybody,” head coach Bill Belichick said Friday. “Yeah, we’ll see how it goes. We worked Kai out earlier this fall, three or four weeks ago.”
Forbath is the Patriots’ fourth kicker this season. The Patriots also have used Stephen Gostkowski, who’s on injured reserve with a hip injury, and Mike Nugent, who was released for ineffectiveness.
“It has (been challenging), but other teams in the league have gone through it, and we’ve gone through it at other positions,” Belichick said. “It’s not what you want. It’s not ideal, but we’ll keep going.”
Belichick wouldn’t commit to bringing back Folk after he’s healthy.
“Right now we’ll go down and play Houston, try to go down and beat Houston,” he said. “That’s the intention right now. That’s our goal. We’ll worry about next week, next week.”
Folk missed two field goals Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys. He had been perfect in two previous games.
The Patriots play the Texans on Sunday night at 8:20 p.m. ET.