Sportsnaut
The New England Patriots are set to kick off their first of two joint practices with the Minnesota Vikings on Wednesday, and the team still doesn’t have much clarity on the kicker competition.
Andres Borregales and John Parker Romo both saw action in New England’s win over the Washington Commanders last week. Parker Romo even hit a 57-yard field goal. However, they both struggled during Monday’s practice and are creating more questions than answers.
According to Nicole Yang of The Boston Globe, Borregales and Parker Romo didn’t have their best practices on Monday. Borregales went two of five on his field goal attempts, while Parker Romo went one for four. Yang added that the battle for the spot is ‘far from over’
Special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer even said that the competition is still undecided.
“We’ll just see what happens at the end of training camp because we’ve still got a long time to go,” Springer said via Yang of The Boston Globe. “I love how both of the guys are competing right now to earn a role. That’s the biggest thing. Earn a role, but you’ve got to be consistent in doing it.”
New England decided to let Joey Slye walk in free agency after a season where he hit 26 of 33 field goals, including six of nine from 50-plus yards. To replace Slye, the Patriots kept Parker Romo on a reserves/future contract and selected Borregales in Round 6 of April’s draft to compete for the kicker spot.
Though the kickers had a rough day on Monday, they have been pretty good in camp thus far and didn’t make any critical mistakes in the opening preseason.
We’ll see how the competition transpires the rest of camp, but there shouldn’t be much panic from one bad day.
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