Bill Belichick Has Harsh Chad Ryland Critique, Won’t Rule Out Replacing Kicker

Bill Belichick didn't sugarcoat it: Chad Ryland's performance this season has not been up to snuff.

The Patriots' rookie kicker missed what would have been a game-tying 35-yard field goal in the final minutes of Sunday's 10-7 loss to the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium.

The costly shank came one game after Ryland missed another 35-yarder in an eventual 10-6 loss to the Indianapolis Colts in Frankfurt, Germany.

"Chad is a very talented player," Belichick said Monday on WEEI's "The Greg Hill Show." "But this is two weeks in a row that we basically missed extra points. It's not good enough."

Ryland's latest miss came in wet conditions, but NFL kickers are expected to make every kick from that distance, regardless of weather.

“I missed that kick," Ryland said postgame. "There's no easy way around it. There's no soft way around it. I missed the kick. I completely own that, and I’ll take responsibility for that every day of the week.

"The protection was good, snap was good, hold was good. I've got to do a better job of making that kick."

The Patriots traded up to select Ryland in the fourth round this past spring, making him their highest-drafted specialist of the Belichick era, and he hasn't come close to replicating Nick Folk's reliability. The Maryland product's 66.7% success rate on field goals ranks second-to-last among qualified kickers.

Folk, meanwhile, has made 95.7% of his field goals for Tennessee after the Patriots traded him there for a 2025 seventh-round pick before the season. That's tied for third-best in the league behind Dallas' Brandon Aubrey and Kansas City's Harrison Butker. The 39-year-old Folk converted 89.3% of his field-goal tries across his 3 1/2 seasons with New England.

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The Patriots spent real draft capital to bring in Ryland, but Belichick wouldn't rule out signing another kicker to the roster or practice squad with six games remaining.

"I'm not ruling anything in or out," the head coach said in his Monday morning video conference. "Trying to do what's best for the team."

The 2-9 Patriots will host the 4-7 Los Angeles Chargers this Sunday at Gillette Stadium.