Slye will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason.
The New England Patriots have already restructured their coaching staff for the second consecutive offseason. Now it is time for the real work with an expected overhaul of the roster coming.
Free agency will be a key part of this process. And while adding external players to the mix will undoubtably happen with over $130 million in projected cap space, there are also a few in-house free agents to be taken care of. Following a series of moves, 11 remain in need of a new contract prior to free agency.
Among them is kicker Joey Slye, the next player in our free agency profile series.
Hard facts
Name: Joey Slye
Position: Place kicker/Kickoff specialist
Opening day age: 29 (4/10/1996)
Size: 5-foot-11, 213 pounds
Jersey number: 13
Free agency status: Unrestricted free agent (UFA)
Experience
NFL teams: New York Giants (2019), Carolina Panthers (2019-20), Houston Texans (2021), San Francisco 49ers (2021), Washington Commanders (2021-23), Jacksonville Jaguars (2024), New England Patriots (2024)
Before arriving in the NFL as a rookie free agent, Slye spent four years at Virginia Tech. He played in 51 games for the Hokies, finishing his college career with a 72.2 percent success rate on field goals (78 of 108) and 98.3 percent on extra points (169 of 172); he also served as the team’s kickoff specialist.
Despite Slye leaving college in 2018, it took him more than a year to finally get his foot in the league’s door. After a brief offseason stint with the Giants in 2019, he joined the Panthers and went on to appear in 32 game for the club over the next two years. He subsequently spent time in Houston and San Francisco before getting picked up by the Commanders toward the tail-end of the 2021 season.
Slye went on to play 40 games for the team before leaving for the Jaguars in March 2024 and the Patriots shortly thereafter. All in all, he has appeared in 95 games in the NFL and has made 81.7 percent of his field goal attempts (63 of 147) as well as 89.6 of his extra points (163 of 182).
2024 review
Stats: 17 games | 129 special teams snaps (29.5%) | 26-of-33 field goals (78.8%) | 25-of-26 extra points (96.2%) | 70 kickoffs, 46 touchbacks (65.7%), 1 short (1.4%), 21 kickoff returns (30%), 529 yards (25.2 yards/return) | 2 onside kicks, 0 recoveries
Season recap: Following his departure from the Commanders, Slye signed a one-year contract to join the Jaguars. However, his stint with the team lasted only six weeks: after Jacksonville selected Cam Little in the sixth round of the draft, Slye was let go again in favor of the rookie.
It only took two days for him to find a new job: the Patriots picked him up in early May, brining him in as competition for incumbent Chad Ryland. Slye proved himself to be more than just a veteran brought aboard to push the youngster; he actually out-performed Ryland in training camp and ended up earning the kicker job over him.
However, Slye was unable to carry his momentum into the regular season and ended 2024 as one of the least successful place kickers in the NFL. On the year, he made just 26 of 33 field goal attempts for a success rate of 78.8 percent — 29th in the league among qualifying kickers and well-below the league average of 84 percent. Five of his seven misses came in eventual one-score losses.
He did fare better on extra points, making 25 of 26 for a career best 96.2 percent hit rate. That number, while impressive, still ranked only 20th in a league-wide comparison.
Of course, statistics alone do not tell the full story of Slye’s 2024 season. For example, one of his misses in Week 2 against Seattle was blocked due to a protection breakdown up front; he also came up short on what would have been an NFL record 68-yard field goal in the final seconds of a Week 13 loss versus Indianapolis.
Slye also made a franchise-record 63-yard field goal against his former team, the 49ers, in Week 4. What can be seen from those examples is that context is needed to properly evaluate the Patriots’ kicking game in 2024, but that there was nonetheless plenty of room for improvement.
Free agency preview
What is his contract history? Even though he has mostly been a journeyman so far in his career, Slye has managed to secure a steady income. From his humble beginnings — his UDFA deal with the Giants included only $500 in guarantees — he actually managed to generate over $7.3 million in contractual career earnings, per Over The Cap.
Which teams might be in the running? The obvious choices to go after Slye in free agency are the Tennessee Titans and Washington Commanders, both of whom currently not having kickers under contract. Besides them, the New York Jets, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, San Francisco 49ers or Atlanta Falcons also might be looking for new kickers this offseason.
Why should he be expected back? Slye offers a strong leg and has shown that he can use it in a notoriously challenging Gillette Stadium environment. He also had some encouraging moments in 2024, both as a kicker and a kickoff specialist. In addition, as noted above, not all of his misses last year were directly his fault.
Why should he be expected to leave? At this point in his career and with one year as a Patriot under his belt, Slye is who he is as a kicker; massive improvement for a player who has made 81.7 percent of his career field goals entering his seventh season probably should not be expected. New England also has John Parker Romo signed to fill the veteran role should the team add a youngster over draft weekend.
What is his projected free agency outcome? Even if the Patriots do re-sign Slye, their kicking issues might not be solved: he has yet to show he can be a long-term solution at the position, and chances are he never will be. As a consequence, we’re leaning “out” on him right now.
What do you think about Joey Slye heading into free agency? Will he be brought back? Or will the Patriots go in a different direction? Please head down to the comment section to discuss.