Stephen Gostkowski
Stephen Carroll Gostkowski is an American former professional football placekicker who played in the National Football League for 15 seasons. A member of the New England Patriots for most of his career, Gostkowski is the franchise's all-time leading scorer. He played college football for the Memphis Tigers and was selected in the fourth round of the 2006 NFL draft by the Patriots, where Gostkowski spent his first 14 seasons. In his final season, Gostkowski played for the Tennessee Titans.
Gostkowski led the league in scoring five times during his career, including four consecutive from 2012 to 2015, and is the first post-merger player to lead the league in scoring for more than two consecutive seasons. He also holds the NFL record for consecutive extra points. Gostkowski was named to four Pro Bowls and two first-team All-Pros, and won three Super Bowl titles. He was inducted to the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame in 2025.
Early life
Gostkowski graduated from Madison Central High School in Madison, Mississippi, in 2002. While there, he won four varsity letters each in football and soccer, and three in baseball, and was an All-State honoree in all three sports. Gostkowski holds the school record for longest field goal, a 55-yard kick. His teammates at Madison Central included former 49ers executive Parys Haralson and former Seahawks center Chris Spencer. His opponents included former Atlanta Falcons running back Jerious Norwood, who returned one of Gostkowski's kickoffs from two yards deep in the end zone; Gostkowski raced him down at the 25-yard line to prevent a touchdown.His most common nickname growing up was "Beaver"; he lost two front teeth playing hockey and had fake teeth that were too large put in as replacements. While at Memphis, he was dubbed "Gotti" by Tigers head coach Tommy West, because West could not pronounce Gostkowski correctly.
College career
Gostkowski attended the University of Memphis, where he played football for the Memphis Tigers and majored in exercise and sports science. Gostkowski received an athletic scholarship to play baseball for Memphis, and was a walk-on for the football team. He finished his college career with a total of 369 points, a school record, and 13th overall in NCAA Division I-A history, converting 70 of 92 field goals and 159 of 165 extra points during his Tiger career. His 70 field goals and 159 extra points both set school records previously held by Joe Allison. He earned first team All-Conference USA honors in both his junior and senior years and was named Conference USA's Special Teams Player of the Year in 2005.In 2005, his senior season, Gostkowski handled kickoff duties for Memphis and had 39 touchbacks on 68 kickoffs. Gostkowski did so using a one-inch tee, rather than the two-inch tees allowed by the NCAA at the time. Thus, NFL talent scouts could more accurately project his potential.
In a 2005 game against Houston, Gostkowski managed the rare feat of recovering his own onside kick.
College statistics
Professional career
New England Patriots
2006 season
Gostkowski was selected by the New England Patriots in the fourth round of the 2006 NFL draft with the 118th overall pick. He was the first of two placekickers to be selected that year. During the Patriots' 2006 training camp, he competed with veteran kicker Martin Gramatica, who the Patriots had signed as a free agent after Adam Vinatieri signed with the Indianapolis Colts. On August 23, 2006, before their third preseason game, the Patriots cut Gramática, and gave the job to rookie Gostkowski.During the 2006 preseason, Gostkowski was perfect on field goals and extra points, going 9-for-9 and 11-for-11, respectively, for a total of 38 points. His longest field goal was a 54-yard attempt against the New York Giants in the last preseason game. On November 26, 2006, Gostkowski made the longest regular-season kick of his young career, a 52-yard kick against the Chicago Bears, which is also the longest kick ever made at Gillette Stadium. Gostkowski finished the 2006 season as the highest-scoring rookie, with 103 points, edging out the 96 points scored by Jacksonville running back Maurice Jones-Drew.
While Gostkowski struggled early in his rookie season—he had two consecutive kicks blocked—his kickoffs were noticeably longer than were Vinatieri's in his last season in Foxborough. During the 2006 season, he averaged 65.5 yards per kickoff with a return average of 23 yards, and a total of 12 touchbacks. Gostkowski also outperformed opposing teams on field goals: Gostkowski made 20 of 26 kicks, while opposing kickers made just 22 of 30. Gostkowski's rookie season was statistically about the same as Vinatieri's: Vinatieri converted 27 of 35 kicks, but missed three extra points. In Week 17, he missed an extra point attempt for the first time in his NFL career.
Gostkowski also had to contend with having three different holders during the season. After his first holder, punter Josh Miller, was placed on injured reserve after Week 11, the Patriots signed Ken Walter, who held for Weeks 12 to 15 until he was placed on injured reserve. Though the Patriots hired Todd Sauerbrun to punt, holding duties were given to the Patriots' backup quarterback Matt Cassel.
2006 postseason
In the Wild Card Round of the 2006 postseason against the New York Jets, Gostkowski was perfect on all his kick attempts, converting three field goal attempts and four extra points. He also had one kickoff go through the back of the end zone for a touchback.In the AFC Divisional Playoffs against the San Diego Chargers, Gostkowski made three of three field goals, including a 50-yard kick that was the longest successful kick in Patriots postseason history. He also made a 34-yarder in the third quarter and a 31-yard kick with 1:10 left in the fourth that made him only the third NFL rookie to attempt a game-winning playoff kick in the fourth quarter or overtime. Gostkowski also converted his only extra point attempt of the game following a Jabar Gaffney touchdown in the second quarter.
In the AFC Championship, Gostkowski again converted all of his kicks, and recorded two touchbacks on kickoffs against the Indianapolis Colts.
Expectations from the Vinatieri years
As an untested rookie, Gostkowski faced special scrutiny in the playoffs, given the playoff heroics of Vinatieri. Gostkowski performed admirably, making all eight of his field goal kicks; he also recorded three touchbacks, including two in the Patriots' January 21, 2007, loss to the Colts at the RCA Dome.2007 season
Although Gostkowski ranked 30th in field goal attempts through the first 12 weeks of the NFL season, he managed to equal his entire 2006 scoring output in those 12 weeks, thanks to an NFL-leading 61 extra point attempts, all of which he converted. In Week 15, against the New York Jets, Gostkowski broke former Miami Dolphins kicker Uwe von Schamann's record for most extra points converted in a season, with his 67th successful attempt. In Week 16, against the Miami Dolphins, Gostkowski broke von Schamann's record of 70 extra point attempts. Gostkowski finished the season a perfect 74-for-74 on extra points, eclipsing Jeff Wilkins' 1999 record of 64-for-64 with the St. Louis Rams. Gostkowski also went 21 for 24 on field goals to finish with 137 points on the season, the third-highest total of any player that year.Gostkowski also had the distinction, in the Week 13 game against the Baltimore Ravens, of kicking off from the Ravens' 35-yard line as the result of two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on Ravens linebacker Bart Scott and an offside call on the Ravens defense on his PAT attempt. Gostkowski recorded a touchback on the kickoff, but there was confusion after the game as to whether or not the Patriots could have improved their field position by kicking the ball out-of-bounds instead.
2007 postseason
Gostkowski had two field goal attempts in the postseason, both in theDivisional Round against the Jacksonville Jaguars; Gostkowski converted one, but missed the other, his only failed postseason conversion. He was 9-for-9 on his extra point attempts. In the AFC Championship victory over the San Diego Chargers, he converted all three extra point attempts. In Super Bowl XLII against the New York Giants, he converted both extra point attempts in the 17–14 loss.
2008 season
Gostkowski was a key contributor in the Patriots' 19–10 win over the New York Jets in Week 2, the game that marked Matt Cassel's debut as a starter after a season-ending injury to Tom Brady. Gostkowski converted four field goals from 21, 37, 28, and 27 yards, and recorded touchbacks on the first five of his six kickoffs.In October, Gostkowski, after going 9-for-10 on field goals and 11-for-11 on extra points for a team-high 38 points, was named AFC Special Teams Player of the Month for the first time in his career.
In Week 16, Gostkowski had the highest-scoring game of his NFL career, converting four field goal attempts and five extra point attempts against the Arizona Cardinals. The 17-point performance gave him a total of 34 field goals on the season, breaking Tony Franklin's 1986 franchise record of 32, and 141 points scored, tying Vinatieri's post-merger franchise record, with one game still to play. Gostkowski finished the season with a league-leading 148 points, the 13th-highest single-season total in NFL history; his 36 field goals converted is the sixth-best total, and the most since Neil Rackers made 40 in 2005.
In December 2008, Gostkowski was selected for his first Pro Bowl appearance as the AFC kicker; his selection was the result of the players' and coaches' votes, as he did not finish in the top five in fan voting. The Associated Press also voted him to the All-Pro First Team for the first time; he received 28 of the 50 votes for kicker.