Patriots’ Bill Belichick Teases Wes Welker’s Return

Tom Brady, Wes Welker

Getty Bill Belichick teased the idea of Wes Welker rejoining the Patriots.

Could Wes Welker be on the verge of making a return to the New England Patriots?

As Bill Belichick held a press conference with the media on Friday, the longtime Patriots head coach teased the idea of Wes Welker’s return to New England — not to fill in at wide receiver, but to fill in at kicker as the team still hasn’t signed a kicker for their Week 14 matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Check out Belichick’s quote below, via Zack Cox of NESN:

With Welker’s old team currently dealing with an ongoing crisis at the kicker position, Patriots coach Bill Belichick joked Friday about luring the 38-year-old slot receiver out of retirement. “We were just talking about him the other day,” Belichick said with a smile. “We’ll see if we can round him up.”
Welker probably could help the Patriots’ receiving corps, too, as New England’s secondary options behind Julian Edelman have struggled to produce on a consistent basis. Unfortunately for the Pats, he’s currently employed by the San Francisco 49ers as their wide receivers coach.

Welker is Currently Employed by the Niners

As mentioned in the article, Cox states that unfortunately for the Patriots, Welker is currently working for the San Francisco 49ers as a wide receivers coach.
With that said, it obviously couldn’t hurt to bring in Welker. The Patriots are decimated at wide receiver and Welker was a five-time Pro Bowler and four-team All Pro as a member of New England. He also led the NFL in receptions on three different occasions and solidified himself as the best slot receiver in the NFL at the time — and possibly ever.
That’s not to mention he can also kick — he served as New England’s emergency kicker during his tenure with the Patriots and made one field goal along with two extra points during his NFL career.
Unfortunately for the Patriots, the 38-year-old is enjoying his retirement along the sidelines — which means New England will have to continue to look for a replacement kicker just two days prior to their big matchup against the Chiefs.

Who Will Kick for Patriots on Sunday?

Who will serve as New England’s placekicker as they host the Chiefs on Sunday? Simple — if they don’t sign a kicker in the meantime, it’ll end up being punter Jake Bailey.

Unfortunately, the rookie punter has never kicked a single field goal or extra point attempt during his career. He also didn’t kick a single attempt during his career in college.

Via NESN:

“If a Patriots kicker is injured in-game this season — as was the case with Stephen Gostkowski when Welker subbed in for one kick in 2010 — punter Jake Bailey would take over field-goal duties, Belichick confirmed Friday. Bailey, who’s taken kickoffs for the Patriots’ since Gostkowski landed on injured reserve in October, was an accomplished kicker at Santa Fe Christian High School in California, converting three 50-plus-yard field goals as a senior.”

New England failed in their bid earlier in the week to sign kicker Chase McLaughlin — who was claimed off of waivers by the Indianapolis Colts instead.

In other words, if the game versus the Chiefs comes down to a field goal, the Patriots could be in major trouble.