Patriots reportedly work out five kickers after placing Stephen Gostkowski on IR

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The New England Patriots reportedly placed Stephen Gostkowski on IR Wednesday with an undisclosed injury. The 14-year veteran had been 7-of-8 on field goals and 11-of-15 on extra points to start the season.

While he has struggled to an extent this year, Gostkowski is the third-most accurate kicker in NFL history, making 87.4 percent of his field goals. Now, he'll need to be replaced.

The Patriots reportedly worked out a number of kickers after Wednesday's practice. Here are the ones we know about so far.

Kai Forbath (per ESPN's Mike Reiss). A veteran of seven seasons, Forbath, 32, has kicked in 77 career games and has made 85.7 percent of his career field goals. He has kicked for the Washington Redskins, New Orleans Saints, Minnesota Vikings, and most recently, the Jacksonville Jaguars. Last year in Jacksonville, he made 4-of-5 field goals and all three of his extra points filling in for Josh Lambo.

Elliott Fry (per Tom Wilson). Fry went undrafted in 2017 and has yet to make a kick in an NFL game. He was one of the many kickers the Bears brought in to replace Cody Parkey for training camp and then made his way onto the Ravens roster during camp after Chicago cut him. The Ravens weren't going to keep Fry over probably the best kicker in the game in Justin Tucker, so here he is.

Mike Nugent (per ESPN's Adam Schefter). Nugent, 37, is another veteran kicker who last kicked for the Oakland Raiders in 2018. He went 6-of-6 on field goals and 4-of-5 on extra points. He played for the Cincinnati Bengals from 2010-16, making 81.8 percent of his kicks.

Blair Walsh (per Wilson). Walsh was one of the better young kickers in the game before he infamously missed a chip-shot field goal against the Seahawks in the 2015 playoffs. He never recovered from the miss and has remained a free agent since 2017. Walsh was cut from the Falcons roster after training camp this season. 

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Matthew Wright (per Reiss). Wright spent time with the Steelers this preseason after going undrafted out of the University of Central Florida. He made 77.5 percent of his college kicks and was 12-of-14 on field goals in his final season with the Golden Knights. Reiss is reporting that the Patriots are unlikely to sign him.

We'll have more updates on the kickers as they come in.

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