The New England Patriots and Joey Slye are headed for a breakup after one season. According to a report by Mike Reiss of ESPN, there has been “no movement toward a deal” between the club and the veteran kicker ahead of NFL free agency.
While that means that Slye is headed toward the open market, the Patriots are planning to move forward with John Parker Romo as the only place kicker on their roster.
Slye, 28, joined the Patriots last May as competition for Chad Ryland. He eventually ended up beating out the incumbent, earning a spot on the 53-man roster due to a solid training camp and preseason performance.
However, any momentum he may have built over the summer did not carry into the regular season: Slye ended 2024 as one of the least successful place kickers in the NFL. He made just 26 of 33 field goal attempts, ranking 29th in the NFL with a success rate of 78.8 percent.
He did fare better on extra points, making 25 of 26 for a career best 96.2 percent hit rate. However, he still ranked only 20th in the league in that category.
While not all of the misses were directly on Slye — one was blocked, the other was a Hail Mary substitute from 68 yards out — the Patriots seemingly moving on from him does not come as a surprise. With a new regime in place, and Romo having shown some promise in his limited game action in 2024, the writing was on the wall.
Romo, 27, entered the NFL as a rookie free agent in 2022. One of Slye’s successors at Virginia State, he spent time in New Orleans, Detroit, Chicago and the XFL before signing with the Minnesota Vikings last offseason. He ended up appearing in four games for the club as an injury replacement, goin11-of-12 on field goals and 7-of-8 on extra points. He ended the 2024 season on the Patriots’ practice squad.