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Nick Folk

Patriots Meet With Nick Folk

August 22nd, 2020 at 3:39pm CST by Zachary Links

The Patriots met with Nick Folk this weekend, according to Jeff Howe of The Athletic (on Twitter). Folk could be considered as an alternative to rookie Justin Rohrwasser, who has reportedly been a bit shaky in camp. 

[RELATED: Browns Work Out Folk, Parkey]

Folk, 35, briefly put a stop to the Patriots’ revolving door of kickers last year before taking a break of his own for an appendectomy. All in all, he appeared in seven games for the Pats while connecting on all 14 of his 17 field goal tries. The Browns also met with Folk recently, plus a host of other kickers including Kai Forbath, Cody Parkey and Matthew McCrane. The Browns have a young kicker of their own in Austin Seibert, but the former Oklahoma Sooner missed five extra point tries in 2019.

In other Pats news, the club has given a slight salary bump to durable defensive lineman Lawrence Guy. They’re also exploring additional depth for that unit, including a recent workout with former Chiefs and Cardinals DL Xavier Williams.

Browns Work Out Folk, Parkey, Others

August 19th, 2020 at 4:14pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Browns may be holding a kicker competition. They brought in Nick Folk, Kai Forbath, Cody Parkey and Matthew McCrane for workouts Wednesday, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets.

Austin Seibert resides as Cleveland’s incumbent kicker. He kicked for the Browns last season, going 25-for-29. The ex-Oklahoma Sooner did miss five extra points, however, and may be on the verge of a training camp battle.

Cleveland has not seen much continuity at kicker lately. The team has changed kickers in each of the past four years, with Zane Gonzalez and Greg Joseph enjoying one-season stays. Seibert beat out Joseph last summer.

Folk has the most experience of the tryout legs, having kicked in the NFL since 2007. The 35-year-old specialist kicked in seven Patriots games last season. Parkey, whose “double doink” miss in a 2018 wild-card game set off rampant Bears kicker uncertainty, resurfaced in three Titans games last season. He made 3 of 3 field goals during that stay. Both Folk and Parkey made Pro Bowls as rookies — in 2007 and ’14, respectively.

Forbath was also part of the Pats’ post-Stephen Gostkowski kicker shuffle; he also kicked in three Cowboys games in 2019. McCrane did not play last season but kicked in four games as a rookie in 2018.

Patriots Waive DT Albert Huggins, Re-Sign K Nick Folk

December 7th, 2019 at 10:30am CST by Ben Levine

Albert Huggins‘ stint with the Patriots lasted less than one week. The Patriots waived the rookie defensive tackle this morning, according to ESPN’s Field Yates (via Twitter). The team will use the roster spot on kicker Nick Folk, who the team officially re-signed.

Huggins joined the Texans as an undrafted free agent out of Clemson. He landed on Houston’s practice squad at the end of the preseason, and he was later signed to the Eagles active roster. The 22-year-old ended up appearing in four games for Philly, compiling three tackles. He was waived by the Eagles last weekend, and the Patriots claimed him on Monday. ESPN’s Mike Reiss suggests that Huggins could be a candidate for New England’s practice squad (Twitter link).

Folk was cut last week after undergoing an appendectomy, but the team’s decision to waive fill-in Kai Forbath indicated that the veteran would be ready for tomorrow’s matchup against the Chiefs. However, the Patriots practiced two straight days without a kicker, leading some to wonder whether the team was actually going to go in a different direction.

We heard last night that the deal had been agreed to. With the Pats, Folk has connected on 7-of-9 field goal tries and all three of his extra point attempts across three games. Two of those misses came last month against the Cowboys, but the Pats still came away with the 13-9 win, with Folk’s 42-yard connection in the fourth quarter helping to seal the deal. In total, the Pats have used four kickers this season: Stephen Gostkowski, Mike Nugent, Folk, and Forbath.

Patriots To Re-Sign Nick Folk

December 6th, 2019 at 6:28pm CST by Zachary Links

Nick Folk is back. On Friday, the Patriots worked out the veteran kicker after one week away from the team and agreed to re-sign him (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). The deal will be formally signed on Saturday. 

Folk missed last week due to an appendectomy, but he’s all healed up from the minor surgery and ready to retake the field. Kai Forbath was signed as a one-game replacement for Folk against the Texans, but received his pink slip earlier this week.

With the Pats, Folk has connected on 7-of-9 field goal tries and all three of his extra point attempts across three games. Two of those misses came last month against the Cowboys, but the Pats still came away with the 13-9 win, with Folk’s 42-yard connection in the fourth quarter helping to seal the deal.

In total, the Pats have used four kickers this season: Stephen Gostkowski, Mike Nugent, Folk, and Forbath. Even after Sunday’s loss to the Texans, they’re 10-2 on the year with yet another AFC East title all but sealed.

Patriots’ Nick Folk To Miss Time

November 28th, 2019 at 10:27am CST by Zachary Links

The Patriots, once again, are in search of a new kicker. Nick Folk recently had an appendectomy that will prevent him from playing this week, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Word of Folk’s surgery was first reported by Mike Petraglia of CLNS (on Twitter). 

The surgery was done laparoscopically, which should mean a short recovery time and only one missed game for Folk. Still, the Pats will need a leg to fill in for Sunday’s game against the Texans.

The Patriots’ kicker role has been in flux ever since Stephen Gostkowski‘s season-ending hip surgery. After Gostkowski hit the IR, the club turned to Mike Nugent, but he was replaced by Folk after missing two field goal tries against the Browns. Even though the Pats won that game to advance to 8-0, Bill Belichick bounced him in favor of Folk.

With the Pats, Folk has connected on 7-of-9 field goal tries and all three of his extra point attempts across three games. Two of those misses came on Sunday against the Cowboys, but the Pats still came away with the 13-9 win, with Folk’s 42-yard connection in the fourth quarter helping to seal the deal.

AFC East Notes: Gronkowski, Darnold, Folk, Dolphins

November 10th, 2019 at 2:10pm CST by Marc Delucchi

It’s no secret that the Patriots have been searching for a weapon to replace the production they received from now retired tight end Rob Gronkowski. Wide receivers Josh Gordon and Antonio Brown both looked like solutions at various points earlier in the season, but neither remain on New England’s roster. However, it appears the team’s owner Robert Kraft still hopes to get Gronkowski back on the field.

When Gronkowski was cleaning out his locker after announcing his retirement in March, Kraft told him the team would remain hopeful that he would return late in the season for another playoff run, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. While it has been known that the organization hoped Gronkowski would change his mind, no one had reported Kraft’s involvement.

Rapoport notes in his story that, according to sources, Gronkowski remains content with his decision, but if he wants to return this season he has to decide soon. The deadline for retired players to return during the season and play is November 30. New England will obviously plan ahead without him, but they surely will be hoping for a change of heart.

Here more from around the AFC East:

  • Kicker Nick Folk has meshed into the Patriots locker room well, according to Mike Reiss of ESPN.com. Folk already knew the man he replaced, Stephen Gostkowski, and offensive lineman Joe Thuney and Ted Karras. All four had been enrolled in some of the same classes as they worked toward master’s degrees in past offseasons. Folk was signed after Gostkowski suffered a torn labrum in his left hip. Reiss also notes that Folk suffered the same injury in 2009 and could offer Gostkowski valuable insight during his recovery.
  • Jets quarterback Sam Darnold is “taking charge” in the locker room, according to Rich Cimini of ESPN.com. After Darnold’s poor performances against both the Jaguars and Patriots, he has become more assertive in meetings with the coaching staff. Cimini reports that Darnold had previously been very deferential to head coach Adam Gase, but now offers feedback and his own opinion more readily.
  • NFL draft experts and scouts were watching this weeks game between LSU and Alabama closely. The Dolphins sent an especially large contingent, which included two scouts and general manager Chris Grier, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter. Miami has long been tied to Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa through the #Tank4Tua trend. However, even if Miami does have the top pick in the draft, some experts are beginning to place LSU’s quarterback Joe Burrow above Tagovailoa. It appears Miami’s top brass got an up-close look at both players on Saturday.

Patriots To Sign K Nick Folk

October 29th, 2019 at 3:52pm CST by Sam Robinson

Hours after cutting Mike Nugent, the Patriots have a deal with a new kicker. Nick Folk and the Pats agreed to terms, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. He has not kicked in an NFL game since 2017.

Folk worked out for the Patriots earlier this month, but they opted to sign Nugent instead. The unbeaten squad will turn to Folk, whose 2019 work has consisted of games with the Alliance of American Football.

Most known for his work with the Jets, with whom the 34-year-old played from 2010-16, the 34-year-old kicker also played for the Cowboys and Buccaneers. He will become the third Patriots kicker this season, following Nugent and Stephen Gostkowski.

Folk kicked in four Bucs games in 2017. In his last full season, with the ’16 Jets, Folk made 27 of 31 field goals and 24 of 26 extra points. Nugent kicked in four Pats games but went 5-for-8 on field goal tries, missing an extra point as well.

NFL Workout Updates: 10/16/19

October 16th, 2019 at 8:10am CST by Sam Robinson

Here is the latest from the workout circuit:

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Kansas City Chiefs

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Redskins

Veteran K Nick Folk Joining AAF

January 27th, 2019 at 10:03am CST by Ben Levine

The Alliance of American Football has recruited another veteran kicker. ESPN’s Michael Rothstein reports that the Arizona Hotshots have signed former Pro Bowler Nick Folk. The 34-year-old will be joining fellow veteran kicker Nick Novak in the inaugural season of the league.

“The biggest thing, I still have a passion to play. I still want to prove I can play,” Folk told ESPN on Saturday night. “And it’s a good opportunity for me to show that. I ended my time in Tampa with that injury, and my last game being hurt I wasn’t able to perform at my best, and I want to show people that I’m back to kicking well.”

The former sixth-rounder will now have an opportunity to return to Arizona, where he played in college. He’ll also have a chance to return to competitive football after having sat out the entire 2018 campaign. Folk last appeared in four games with the Buccaneers during the 2017 season, converting six of his 11 field goal attempts and seven of his nine extra point tries. He was placed on the injured reserve after his knee tendinitis required surgery, and he was released several months later.

While the injury was more severe than anticipated, Folk told ESPN that he’s been healthy for a bit more than a year. The veteran had previously discussed joining the AAF, but he kept his options open during the NFL’s regular season. The veteran was among a group of kickers to audition for the Bears earlier this week.

Folk is 50th on the NFL’s all-time points list, and he’s the second-leading scorer in Jets history. He’s converted 98.8-percent of his extra point attempts in his career; however, as Rothstein notes, this won’t matter much in the AAF, as there are no extra points (nor kickoffs) in the league.

Bears To Audition Several Kickers

January 25th, 2019 at 10:19am CST by Zachary Links

The Bears are leaving no stone unturned in their efforts to upgrade the kicker position. On Friday, they’ll work out a group of six or seven kickers including Nick Folk, Blair Walsh, and Austin MacGinnis, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com and Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter links). 

Parkey missed a potential game winner against the Eagles in the opening round of the playoffs, putting him on thin ice. His 43-yard try off the upright was a heartbreaker, though it wasn’t exactly Parkey’s fault as it was tipped by defensive tackle Treyvon Hester.

The 26-year-old kicker (27 in February) may have put his job in further jeopardy when he made a guest appearance on NBC’s Today show to discuss the miss. The lighthearted segment rubbed head coach Matt Nagy the wrong way and drew the ire of many Bears fans.

“For me, you understand that we always talk about a ‘we’ and not a ‘me’ thing,” Nagy said (via ESPN.com). “We always talk as a team, we win as a team, we lose as a team. You know, I just, I didn’t necessarily think that that was too much of a ‘we’ thing.”

It certainly sounds like the Bears want to replace Parkey, but his contract complicates matters. Parkey joined the Bears on a four-year, $15MM deal last offseason which calls for a $4.4MM dead cap hit if he is released before the 2019 season. Earlier this month, GM Ryan Pace indicated that the contract will not necessarily keep them from moving on.

“We talk about those things [the financial ramifications], but the most important thing is performance,” Pace said.

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