Of all the decisions that New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has made to get his team into their 1-5 spot to start the season, NFL insider Peter King is confused by an under-discussed one.
In his recent Football Morning in America column, King asked why Belichick appeared so determined to oust former kicker Nick Folk, to the extent that he used two draft picks in four years in an effort to get rid of him.
“Folk made 90.4% of his field-goal attempts for New England in the last three years,” King wrote. “Entering his age-39 season, Folk was not re-signed by the Patriots, and he signed with Tennessee. New England picked Maryland kicker Chad Ryland in the fourth round of the ’23 draft, three years after picking Marshall kicker Justin Rohrwasser in the fifth round. Rohrwasser never played in an NFL game. Ryland is 4-for-8 early in his NFL career. What, exactly, is wrong with Folk, and why did Bill Belichick spend so much draft capital and scouting energy trying to replace him?”
Folk is a perfect 16-for-16 on field goals and 8-for-8 on extra points with the Titans this season. But over his four years in New England, he was consistently one of the best kickers in the league.
Football Morning in America is up! 🎤😄
In my column this week:✈️ “Hell on wheels” works for the Jets
🙏 The Lions’ perfect play
🎁 A birthday gift from Joe Burrow
🇺🇸 Citizenship for a football fanatichttps://t.co/4VIztkEBs6— Peter King (@peter_king) October 16, 2023
The only thing that really makes sense is that Bill Belichick was put off by Nick Folk’s inability to get touchbacks on kickoffs.
Between 2021 and 2022, only six of Folk’s 45 kickoffs resulted in a touchback.
What do you think the reason is that the Patriots let Folk walk?