Stephen Gostkowski

Stephen Haunt Carroll Gostkowski ( gost-KOW-skee; born January 28, 1984) is an American football placekicker for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Patriots in the fourth round of the 2006 NFL Draft. One of just two kickers drafted, Gostkowski was the only rookie kicker to make an NFL roster that year. He has won three Super Bowls with the Patriots. Gostkowski, who played both college football and baseball for the University of Memphis, is the most accurate kicker in Patriots history, and, as of the end of the 2018 season, the third-most accurate kicker in NFL history. He is also a consistent and prolific scorer: he is only the second player in NFL history to score 500 points in his first four seasons in the league, and the first to score 1,000 points in his first eight seasons in the league (despite missing half the 2010 season with a leg injury). Gostkowski also holds the record for highest average points per game scored over a career (8.75 points per game as of the end of the 2015 season), and is the first player since the AFL-NFL merger to lead the league in scoring in more than two consecutive seasons (2012–2015; he also led the league in scoring in 2008). In 2014, he became the Patriots' all-time leading scorer, surpassing Adam Vinatieri. As of 2016, he is also the Patriots' all-time leader in field goals, and holds the NFL record for consecutive extra points with 479 (523 including postseason).