Right Place, Right Time for Gostkowski

Veteran kicker moved to Nashville with no idea he eventually would sign with the Titans.

He didn’t know what would happen, but Stephen Gostkowski couldn’t have planned or prepared any better if he tried.

The 36-year-old veteran kicker signed with the Tennessee Titans last week, but his move to Middle Tennessee took place earlier.

Gostkowski’s time with his former team, the New England Patriots, ended right as the coronavirus pandemic commenced with force in March. In turn, he and his wife, who is a Memphis native, decided to purchase a home in the Nashville area and moved in late July after having spent much of the offseason in Rhode Island.

“We had a lot of time to think about what we wanted to do … whether we wanted to stay up there [Boston] or move down south closer to family,” Gostkowski said Monday. “My wife got on the internet and started looking at houses. Nashville seems like a great place to raise a family. We are in the Franklin area. So far, so good.

“... It just lucked out for me that there was an availability to play here. It wasn’t like ‘here or nowhere.’”

It’s not quite destiny, but the Titans too can consider themselves as lucky.

After a 2019 season that featured many kicking blunders, the Titans signed Gostkowski with the idea that he could bring stability and consistency back to the position.

Drafted by the Patriots in the fourth round of the 2006 NFL Draft out of Memphis, Gostkowski is a two-time All-Pro, a four-time Pro Bowler and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s team of the decade for the 2010s.

Over the course of 14 seasons with the Patriots, Gostkowski made 87.4 percent of his field goals (374-428), which ranks fifth in NFL history. His 205 total postseason points is second all-time in NFL history. In 28 career postseason games, including three Super Bowl victories, Gostkowski has made 39 of his 44 field goal attempts (88.6 percent). In addition, Gostkowski had led the league in field goals three times in his career.

In 2019, Gostkowski played in just four games due to hip injury. Healthy now, he explained that he feels ready to put last season behind him and prove his worth as a Titan.

“I am feeling good,” Gostkowski said. “The surgery was sometime in mid-October. I did my rehab in New England and was working really hard. By the time our time ended in New England, I was fully cleared physical therapy-wise to go. I was working on my own, kicking twice a week from March until a couple of weeks ago.

“It’s nice to not feel some of the things I have in the past. You go through an injury, you have surgery and rehab, you want to see how you can put it to use. It’s definitely a motivator to do all that work rehab wise to go out there and see what you can do when you perform.”

Gostkowski will get to do just that less than a week from now when the Titans open the season against the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football.

He moved to Nashville because he and his family wanted to. It just happened to turn into the perfect situation for both Gostkowski and the Titans.

“Things just kind of came together,” he said, “and it was kind of the right place, right time, and hopefully I can go out there and take advantage of it."