Folk vs Nordin looks to be a thing

2020 wasn't just the end of an era at quarterback for the Patriots, as they would see the Steven Gostkowski tenure come to an end as well. Gostkowski had surgery in 2019 and would only play part of the year.

In 2019 the Patriots would play three other kickers. Mike Nugent, Kia Forbath, and Nick Folk. Folk would win the job going 14 of 17 and get re-signed in 2020. 

In the Patriots would sign Roberto Aguayo to the practice squad incase Folk got injured or slipped up. They also drafted Justin Rohrwasser in the fifth round of the 2020 draft. Folk would go on to kick 90.9% of his kicks in 2020. And neither Rohrwasser or Aguayo was needed.

In 2021, the Patriots cut Rohrwasser and signed Quinn Nordin, undrafted kicker from Michigan. Throughout the spring training until it ended for the summer Nordin was booming kicks and Aguayo was doing nothing.

On Thursday June 17th, the Patriots cut Aguayo from their roster, freeing up room for signings. Thus ensuring a battle between Folk and Nordin in July when camp returns.

Over his short tenure with the Patriots, Folk has played in 23 games. Over that time, Folk has successfully kicked 88.9% of his field goals and 93.3% of his extra points.

Nordin the undrafted rookie was highly sought after by Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh coming out of high school and Belichick respects the opinions of the Harbaugh brothers. In 37 games for the Wolverines, Nordin only made 72.4% of his field goals. Nordin also has a long of 57 yards and his special teams coach Chris Partridge said, "To clarify, Nordin's longest field goal in practice was actually 66 or 67 yards."

Off hand it might make more sense just to hand Folk the job but stats don't tell everything. Nordin was the top kicker in the country heading into college, and if he's good enough for Jim Harbaugh to sleep at his house than Patriots special teams coach Cameron Achord should be able to coach Nordin's accuracy to where it was out of high school. 

Nordin being the only UDFA currently on the roster ups his chance of making the roster because Belichick normally carries one UDFA into the regular season. The battle between the two should make the preseason interesting to say the least.

One quick writer note. I've been telling people to watch for a long snapper battle between Wes Farnsworth and Joe Cardona. Cardona was on his seventh season so it made sense for Bill to challenge him. As of Thursday, Farnsworth has been released and the battle is over.