Patriots’ Kicker Battle Should Have Obvious Winner, Right?

Drake Maye and Jacoby Brissett have dominated the headlines, but the New England Patriots have another key training camp battle happening down at Gillette Stadium.

Joey Slye or Chad Ryland?

The Patriots haven’t been shy about it, either, tossing the duo in pressure-cooker situations to close recent practices as they try to earn the one-man job.

“Coach (Jerod) Mayo likes a lot of competition, so that’s more of a Mayo thing,” Patriots special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer said last week, per The Boston Globe. “I love it, having those guys in pressure situations. It’s really hard to simulate that kind of stuff in practice. The more and more you can have the players around, talking, talking trash, things like that, it’s healthy for the competition.”

New England’s kicking problems have been well documented over the last couple offseasons, as the decision to replace Nick Folk with Ryland had clear negative effect on the team’s overall success in 2023.

Ryland was just 16-of-25 during his rookie season, canceling out his Christmas Day game-winner over the Denver Broncos with horrific missed kicks late in games against the Indianapolis Colts and New York Giants.

The Patriots couldn’t just roll into his sophomore campaign without bringing in some competition, which is where Slye came in.

New England looked as though it would have an easy decision to make. Ryland started strong, and his status as a recent fourth-round pick gave him an edge before the competition even started. The 24-year-old is 28-for-33 during training camp, while his veteran counterpart is 30-for-36.

It’s Ryland’s job to lose, right?

Wrong.

Slye is the clear favorite to win the job, having been the only one to attempt a field goal in either of the Patriots’ preseason games, coming up clutch Thursday with makes from 51 and 45 yards. He’s perfect on the preseason, and with the league introducing its new dynamic kickoff, he’s certainly a better fit to contribute in more ways than one.

The Patriots could see things change, but in all likelihood, there will be a new kicker with New England in 2024.