What you need to know about new Patriots kicker Kai Forbath

He is 32 and originally signed with Dallas as an undrafted free agent in 2011.

Kicker Kai Forbath is now a member of the Patriots. Jim Mone/AP Photo

By Andrew Mahoney

November 30, 2019

2 minutes to read

The Patriots signed Kai Forbath to replace kicker Nick Folk, who underwent an appendectomy Thursday morning and will be unable to play Sunday night against the Texans.

Forbath will be the fourth player to kick for the Patriots this season. They already have used Stephen Gostkowski and Mike Nugent. Gostkowski had to go on injured reserve Oct. 2 with a hip injury and Nugent was replaced by Folk after four games.

Here’s what you need to know about Forbath:

■ He is 32 and originally signed with Dallas as an undrafted free agent in 2011. He has spent seven seasons in the NFL, most recently with the Jaguars, appearing in three games last season. He is 120 of 140 (85.7 percent) on field goals and 172 of 183 (94 percent) on extra points over stints with the Redskins (2012-15), Saints (2015), Vikings (2016-17), and Jaguars (2018).

■ After winning the Lou Groza Award his junior year at UCLA in 2009 as the nation’s best kicker (28/31 field goals, 24/25 extra points), he suffered a groin injury in August of 2010 and was not as accurate in his senior season (13/18 field goals, 27/27 extra points); he finished as a semifinalist for the Groza Award.

■ According to the Los Angeles Times, his right cleat has to be three sizes too small to create a better kicking surface. He also surfed, played golf, and “became addicted’’ to video games through his college roommate, long snapper Christian Yount.

■ In 41 games with the Redskins, Forbath connected on 87 percent of his field goal attempts and 97.8 percent of his extra points, but Washington decided to move on from him for a kicker with a stronger leg on kickoffs, so expect punter Jake Bailey to keep handling those duties for the Patriots.

■ After appearing in 10 games with the Saints in 2015, he was told he had won the job again coming out of camp in 2016, but just two days later, on his 29th birthday, he was released in favor of rookie Will Lutz.

■ He caught on with the Vikings in 2016, appearing in seven games, and at the end of preseason in 2017, he was told on his 30th birthday that he was keeping the job, beating out rookie Marshall Koehn.

■ In a win over New Orleans in the NFC divisional playoff game Jan. 14, 2018, he nailed a 53-yard field goal to give Minnesota a 23-21 lead with 1:29 left. Minnesota would go on to win, 29-24.

■ The Vikings brought him back on a one-year deal in March 2018, but released him that August when they decided to go with Daniel Carson, a rookie out of Auburn.

■ He caught on with the Jaguars in 2018 and played in their final three games after Josh Lambo could not finish the season because of a groin injury. Forbath connected on 4 of 5 field goal attempts but was released in February after the team signed Lambo to an extension.

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