Report: New England Patriots Placing Stephen Gostkowski On IR

Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski is scheduled to have a season-ending surgery for the injury on his left hip. The information was confirmed by ESPN’s Adam Schefter and several other sources.

Gostkowski is the Patriots’ all-time leader in points and field goals. He is placed on injured reserve, and the Patriots will probably have him in the 2020 season as reported by Schefter.

“He’s meant a lot to this team, and you see a lot of that in the record books,” veteran safety Devin McCourty said. “… But I always speak on how much he means to the locker room. So he’ll definitely be missed throughout the year, having his presence in there.”

The 35-year-old has been a kicker for New England since 2006. He missed four extra point attempts during the Patriots’ 4-0 start. He was 7-for-8 on field goal attempts. Gostkowski handled kickoffs and he was tied for second in the NFL with 21 touchbacks. Rookie punter Jake Bailey knows how to handle kickoffs, and he may take over these duties.

The Patriots had a lot of kickers in for workouts Wednesday, and they narrowed the field to 32-year-old Kai Forbath and 37-year-old Mike Nugent. The team may wait another day to bring a decision, and they have enough time to work out free agents who didn’t work out Wednesday.

Forbath has been a kicker with the Redskins, Saints, Vikings and Jaguars. He is 120-for-140 on field goal attempts in his career.

Nugent is 253-for-311 on field goals in his career. He has been kicking with the Jets, Buccaneers, Cardinals, Bengals, Cowboys, Bears and Raiders.

This is the first time since 2010 that New England has had a kicker other than Gostkowski. He was placed on IR due to his thigh injury, and the Pats signed veteran Shayne Graham to fill the empty spot.

“Whoever the next guy is that comes in here, he doesn’t need to try to be Steve or try to be Adam Vinatieri; he just needs to be himself,” special teams captain Matthew Slater said. “He’ll be here for a reason and that reason will be because Coach Belichick thinks he’s going to give us the best chance to help this team win games. We’ll support him. We’ll do what we can to help him adjust.”