Patriots: Bill Belichick blew it wasting kicker draft pick instead of signing Rodrigo Blankenship

Patriots GM Bill Belichick blew it by wasting a draft pick on a kicker instead of signing former Georgia star Rodrigo Blankenship.

It’s not often that we feel obligated to come down on Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, but he undoubtedly deserves to be criticized for his handling of the team’s kicking situation this past offseason.

The Patriots made an understandable decision when they released veteran Stephen Gostkowski back in March after hip surgery limited his 2019 season to just four games. The transaction ended his 14-year tenure with the franchise and left them without a kicker on the roster.

Following that move, it wasn’t entirely surprising that Belichick drafted a kicker in the fifth-round of the 2020 Draft. The shock came, however, when it was revealed that Marshall product Justin Rohrwasser, who wasn’t projected to hear his name called, was the player selected.

Coming into the Draft, scouts weren’t expecting many (if any) kickers to be drafted. However, there was one consensus collegiate star — Georgia stud Rodrigo Blankenship — who they theorized could be worth the price of admission.

Ironically enough, he wasn’t drafted and ultimately inked a deal with the Indianapolis Colts, who look brilliant for doing such a thing. As for Belichick, well, he unfortunately comes off as the big loser in all of this.

Blankenship managed to win the starting job at Colts training camp and has since become a hot commodity around the NFL through the first five weeks of the season, as he currently leads the league in scoring.

The former Bulldog has converted 15-of-17 field goal attempts (or 88.2%) and is a perfect 11-for-11 on extra-point tries, which is an extreme rarity in today’s game. It’s worth noting that he’s yet to make a field goal longer than 44 yards, but he also hasn’t attempted one beyond 50 yards, either.

We’d love to see what Blankenship can do from distance, but it doesn’t change the fact that he’s been nails for Indianapolis so far. And for any haters belittling his efficiency by saying most of his attempts (eight) have come in the 30-39 yard range, he’s drilled four of five tries in the 40-49 yard range, so sit down.

Rohrwasser, meanwhile, lost the kicking competition to late offseason signee Nick Folk and has since spent his time on the Patriots’ practice squad. Barring an injury (or COVID-19 diagnosis) to the proven 35-year-old, he won’t be promoted to the active roster at all this season, and that basically means Belichick wasted a fifth-round pick.

We’re not saying that Belichick would have struck gold on that pick had he not jumped the gun at drafting a kicker and waited to sign a free agent like Blankenship, but there’s no denying that he goofed in choosing to do so.

Blankenship has simply been THAT valuable to the Colts.

How can Cam Newton return to Patriots if he keeps testing positive?

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick asserted that Cam Newton could return if his positive tests continue. Kind of weird!