The New England Patriots and kicker Stephen Gostkowski have agreed to a two-year deal, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Gostkowski, who turned 35 in January, has been the Patriots’ kicker since the team selected him in the fourth round (118th overall) of the 2006 draft. He had big shoes to fill, replacing Adam Vinatieri, who had signed with the Indianapolis Colts as a free agent that offseason.
On the first day of 2018 training camp, coach Bill Belichick had noted how fortunate he was to have Vinatieri and Gostkowski, before praising Gostkowski for how he handled that transition.
“He showed an incredible amount of maturity and poise his rookie year. He came into probably as difficult a situation as any rookie player that I’ve brought on to a team with the expectations that were with him, and obviously, with what Adam had done before,” Belichick said.
In the 13 seasons since, Gostkowski has converted 367 of 420 field-goal attempts in the regular season (87.4 percent) and is 642 of 649 on point-after attempts.
In 28 career playoff games, he is 39 of 42 on field goals and 88 of 92 on PATs.
Gostkowski re-signing ensures the Patriots won’t have a change in the kicking game as unrestricted free agent Ryan Allen also re-signed this offseason. Allen serves as New England’s punter and is Gostkowski’s holder.
ESPN’s Mike Reiss contributed to this report.