Who Should I Start? Joey Slye or Rodrigo Blankenship

Thursday, May 2, 4:24 PM

Veteran free-agent kicker Joey Slye signed with the New England Patriots on Thursday, according to NFL.com. The 28-year-old signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars at the start of free agency on March 18 but was released just over a month later after the team drafted former Arkansas kicker Cam Little in the sixth round of the 2024 NFL Draft. Since entering the league in 2018 as an undrafted free agent, Slye has spent time with the New York Giants, Carolina Panthers, Houston Texans, San Francisco 49ers, and Jaguars. In 75 career games, he has connected on 121 of his 147 field goal attempts and 138 of his 156 extra-point tries. He will likely compete with Chad Ryland for the starting place-kicking duties for New England this offseason.

Monday, August 21, 6:14 PM

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers waived kicker Rodrigo Blankenship on Monday. Blankenship lost the kicking battle to Chase McLaughlin in training camp this summer and will now look to latch on with another team before the start of the 2023 regular season. The 26-year-old spent last year with the Indianapolis Colts and Arizona Cardinals, going 4-for-5 on his field-goal tries and 4-for-5 on extra points in just three total games. As long as Tampa doesn't bring in more competition for McLaughlin to close out the preseason, he should enter Week 1 as the team's starting kicker. McLaughlin, 27, made 83.3 percent of his 36 field-goal attempts and made all 21 of his extra-point tries in 16 games with the Indianapolis Colts in 2022. The kicking position in Tampa won't be as exciting in fantasy now that Tom Brady isn't running the offense in 2023.