The Kai Forbath era came to a swift end Monday. As of Tuesday morning, the New England Patriots had yet to name his successor.
With a matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs looming on Sunday, Bill Belichick said the Patriots will weigh their options before signing a new kicker.
“We have a few days to work that out, so we’ll look at our options and do what we feel like is best for the team based on what our options are,” Belichick said Tuesday in a conference call with reporters. “I don’t know exactly how that’s going to go, but we’ll see.”
The most likely option would be re-signing Nick Folk, whom the Patriots cut last week after he underwent an emergency appendectomy. Folk fared relatively well during his initial three-game stint with the team, going 7-for-9 on field-goal attempts and 3-for-3 on extra points, and still had a stall in New England’s locker room at the end of last week.
Belichick suggested the Patriots considered having punter/kickoff man Jake Bailey handle field goals this past Sunday against the Houston Texans before ultimately signing Forbath. Bailey kicked in high school, but using him in that role would require the team to introduce a new holder to the field-goal operation.
“Yeah, we’ve looked at a number of different options,” Belichick said. “Last week was last week; this week is this week. Maybe it’ll be the same; maybe it’ll be different. Maybe some of the circumstances around that will change. That situation came up pretty late in the week, so this week, we have a little more time to plan and evaluate the entire situation. We’ll see what our options are and try to make the best one.”
Forbath appeared in just one game for the Patriots, missing a 38-yard extra point in a 28-22 loss to the Texans. He was New England’s fourth kicker this season, following Stephen Gostkowski, Mike Nugent and Folk.
The Patriots filled Forbath’s spot on the 53-man roster by claiming defensive tackle Albert Huggins off waivers from the Philadelphia Eagles, meaning they’ll need to remove another player to make room for his replacement.
