Patriots Finally Found Their Franchise Kicker?

After two straight seasons of shaking and kicking, the New England Patriots are lucky to have hit on their sixth-round draft pick.

Andy Borregales has been a great addition to a Patriots team that’s continued to be middle-of-the-road in the red zone. The team has scored 23 touchdowns in 40 trips to the red area this season — just a 58.9% clip. One of those trips resulted in a kneel down against the Browns in Week 8.

As a result, Borregales’ ability to be near-perfect with his kicks has been an undervalued part of the team’s 9-2 start. The rookie is 15-for-17 on fields goals, and though he missed a 45-yarder against the Jets last week, has been among the league’s most accurate place kickers. On extra points, he’s missed just two, both of which came in the Patriots’ second game of the season.

Have The Patriots Finally Found Their Next Franchise Kicker?

New England’s two shaky, four-win seasons also coincided with moving on from the always-reliable Nick Folk and trotted out Chad Ryland (64 FG%) and Joey Slye (78%) in back-to-back seasons. Heading into the new regime in 2025, the Patriots went out, scouted Borregales at the Shrine Bowl and selected him as the first kicker taken off the board in the 2025 NFL Draft.

“I worked my butt off,” Borregales said in an Instagram video posted by PatriotsFocus over the weekend. “Just in pre-draft and throughout college, just to get to that point. And I knew that whether I was drafted or not, I was gonna work my butt off to make a team.

“Fortunately, you know, New England decided to take a chance on me and draft me,” Borregales said.

Nov 13, 2025; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; New England Patriots kicker Andy Borregales (36) misses the field goal attempt against the New York Jets in the second quarter at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images | David Butler II-Imagn Images

It’s been a resurgence for the Patriots under Mike Vrabel. The special teams units has also been finding new life under special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer.

Borregales has been a big part of that. After missing a trio of kicks over the first two weeks of his NFL career, he’s rebounded to levels that give hope to New England. In his first primetime game — a Week 5 battle against the Buffalo Bills — Borregales drilled a 52-yard field goal to upset the Bills and snap their undefeated record.

While he’s not at the level of Adam Vinatieri and Stephen Gostkowski, the two horsemen of the Patriots kicking game, he’s been able to carve out his own accurate role with the team. That’s also come with some help from one of the team’s legends.

“We’ve texted here and there, and hopped on a call here and there again,” Borregales said about Gostkowski earlier in the season. “Really just trying to pick his brain, especially in this place here and just mentally because he did it at a very high level for a very long time. That’s just a great person to lean on as a mentor. Just trying to pick his brain as much as possible.”

While the year isn’t over and the Miami kicker hasn’t had to find his footing (literally) in the New England snow, Borregales has put his best foot forward 11 games into his career.

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