Patriots Rumors: Nick Folk Shopped in Trade Talks amid Camp Battle with Chad Ryland

The New England Patriots are fielding trade calls on veteran kicker Nick Folk ahead of Tuesday's deadline to cut NFL rosters down to 53 players, according to Jeff Howe of The Athletic.

Folk, 38, engaged in a kicking competition with rookie fourth-round draft pick Chad Ryland during training camp and the preseason.

After previous stints with the Dallas Cowboys, New York Jets and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Folk has spent the past four seasons of his 15-year NFL career in New England.

During the preseason, Folk made his only field goal attempt and both of his extra point attempts, while Ryland made both of his extra point attempts and did not have a field goal try.

While it is possible Folk could be the better kicker than Ryland right now, keeping Ryland over Folk would benefit the Pats financially and also prevent them from essentially wasting a fourth-round pick.

Per Spotrac, Folk is due to make a base salary of $1.69 million with a $2.785 million salary cap hit in 2023, whereas Ryland would make just $750,000 in base salary with a $946,687 cap hit.

Folk, who was a Pro Bowler during his rookie season with the Cowboys in 2007, has made 82.9 percent of his field goals during his career, ranking him 39th among qualified players in NFL history. He is also 26th on the all-time points list with 1,517.

As New England's full-time kicker over the past three seasons, Folk has enjoyed the best stretch of his career.

He set a new career mark by making 92.9 percent of his field goals in 2020 and followed it up with a 92.3 percent success rate the following season.

Last season, Folk went 32-for-37 on field goals, which was good for an 86.5 percent mark. He also made four of his five attempts from 50 yards and beyond, and has gone 12-for-17 from 50-plus during his Patriots tenure.

All of those numbers suggest Folk is still an NFL kicker and could generate interest from other kicker-needy teams in the league if the Patriots do intend on moving on.

There has already been one notable kicker trade prior to roster cuts, as the Cleveland Browns acquired Dustin Hopkins from the Los Angeles Chargers for a 2025 seventh-round pick on Monday.

If New England goes with Ryland, it will be rolling the dice on its ability to develop and keep a quality kicker for years to come, as was the case with Adam Vinatieri and Stephen Gostkowski previously.

Ryland spent four seasons kicking collegiately at Eastern Michigan before transferring to Maryland for his senior season. He converted 77.3 percent of his field goals during his college career, including going 19-for-23 (82.6 percent) last season.