Patriots Expected to Re-Sign Nick Folk Following Appendectomy as Kicking Conundrum Continues

Remember how the New England Patriots released Nick Folk after he had his appendix removed? Well, it looks like his time away from the team isn´t lasting long.

Yup, the veteran kicker will look to drill kicks for the team once again.

The #Patriots, who still do not currently have a kicker on the roster, are expected to re-sign Nick Folk, source said. He missed last week because of appendectomy. But he should be healthy now.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 6, 2019

The Patriots are likely to re-sign Folk, according to NFL insider Ian Rapoport. This would make Folk the third and fifth kicker the Patriots have added this year, after a season-ending injury to Stephen Gostkowski, and the releases of Mike Nugent, Folk, and now, Kai Forbath.

Bill Belichick surely confirmed bringing Folk back, right? Nope.

Kicker Nick Folk is expected to be re-signed by the #Patriots this afternoon.

When asked about confirming the rumor Bill Belichick said “nope.” pic.twitter.com/e5u0D7yYPj
— Jordan Moore (@iJordanMoore) December 6, 2019

Folk was only supposed to miss one game after his appendectomy, leaving the door open for him to return to the Patriots. Folk made seven of nine field goal attempts in three games with the Patriots this season, though the only two misses came in Folk's most recent game, a 13-9 win over one of his former teams, the Dallas Cowboys.

Folk has been consistently good throughout his career, during which time he has converted over 80% of his field goal tries, putting him just outside the top 50 kickers in NFL history in accuracy. He is only about 3.5% behind former Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri, considered by many the greatest kicker of all time.