Kicker Stephen Gostkowski reportedly headed to injured reserve

According to multiple reports, veteran New England Patriots placekicker Stephen Gostkowski is headed to injured reserve and may not return this season.

What was already a rough season for veteran placekicker Stephen Gostkowski just got a whole lot rougher. According to a report from NFL.com’s Grant Gordon, Gostkowski is headed to injured reserve with a left hip injury that will require season-ending surgery.

Jim McBride of The Boston Globe was the first to report the news.

The New England Patriots are now left facing uncertainty at one of the game’s most important positions. Just as the Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets, and Chicago Bears have notably encountered difficulties finding consistent kickers over the past couple seasons, the Patriots may now find themselves in a similar predicament.

The team is hamstrung by the fact that the regular season is already five weeks in. If whatever happened to Gostkowski had occurred earlier – say during training camp or the preseason even – the Pats could have realistically attempted to orchestrate a trade with another team or sign any number of the veteran free agents still on the market.

But since the season is already fairly deep at this point, the Patriots don’t have a lot of options in front of them, with most of the more-proven kickers already on other NFL rosters at this juncture. New England could always try and pry one of those kickers away in a trade, but doing so would be highly unlikely.

What’s more probable is the Pats will sign one of the many free agents they worked out on Wednesday. It’s unknown at this time just how many players the team took a look at, just as it’s currently unknown who the identities of these kickers were… although supposedly veterans Kai Forbath and Mike Nugent were among those spotted.

Gostkowski has been reliable this season with his field goal attempts, making 7-of-8 so far. That said, he’s been wildly inconsistent with his extra point attempts, going just 11-of-15 through four games of the season. He’s missed an extra point attempt in three straight games.

These struggles were originally believed to be part of the reason why the team was looking at possible alternatives. Now that Gostkowski is headed to IR, it lends a real sense of urgency to New England finding a replacement who can kick for the Patriots at a high level.