FOXBOROUGH, Massachusetts – Kicker Roberto Aguayo, who has been out of the NFL for nearly three full seasons after entering the league in 2016 as a second-round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is trying to revive his career on the New De exhibition squad of the English patriots.
The club plans to sign Aguayo on Saturday, a source told ESPN’s Field Yates.
Aguayo’s career took a dramatic turn after the Buccaneers selected him with the 59th overall pick in 2016. He was highly acclaimed from the state of Florida, having scored all 198 points on attempts and 69 of 78 field goals. He was the best kicker selected in the draft since the New York Jets won Mike Nugent in the second round in 2005 (No. 47 overall).
Aguayo went 22 out of 31 on field goals as a rookie, struggling notably late in the season, and then Buccaneers signed veteran Nick Folk in the off-season to compete for the top job. Folk won the job in the 2017 preseason; He is currently the patriots’ kicker and is in the middle of a career year at the age of 36.
Aguayo was claimed by the Chicago Bears in 2017, but was released after less than a month, and he spent six weeks of the 2017 season on the Carolina Panthers exhibition squad. He spent the off-season and the 2018 preseason with the Los Angeles Chargers, but was released at the end of the preseason and has been out of the league ever since.
In New England, Folk is a free agent after the season. The Patriots also added Justin Rohrwasser to their practice squad in the fifth round in 2020, and the addition of Aguayo could be an indication that Rohrwasser’s development hasn’t gone as smoothly as the club envisioned.