Patriots Select Justin Rohrwasser in 5th Round, 1st Kicker Taken in 2020 Draft

The New England Patriots may have found the successor to longtime kicker Stephen Gostkowski in the 2020 NFL draft.

New England selected Marshall kicker Justin Rohrwasser in the fifth round with the No. 159 overall pick Saturday, making him the first kicker and first specialist of any kind to come off the board in the 2020 NFL draft.

The Clifton Park, New York, native spent the past two seasons at Marshall after transferring from Rhode Island. As a junior in 2018, Rohrwasser went 44-of-46 on extra points and 15-of-21 on field goals, but he took his game to the next level last season.

During his senior campaign, Rohrwasser went 35-of-36 on extra points and 18-of-21 on field goals, which was good for a 85.7 percent accuracy rate. Rohrwasser also showed solid range with a long field-goal make of 53 yards last season.

The Patriots released Gostkowski in March, thus ending his 14-year run with the team. Gostkowski is the Pats' all-time leading scorer with 1,775 points, and he is the most accurate kicker in team history as well with a success rate of 87.4 percent.

A hip injury forced Gostkowski to miss all but four games last season, which opened the door for the Pats to move on from the four-time Pro Bowler and three-time Super Bowl winner.

Rohrwasser is a relative unknown with big shoes to fill, but the Pats got it right when they took Gostkowski in the fourth round of the 2006 draft, and their track record with specialists suggest Rohrwasser has a good chance to succeed in the NFL.