Patriots Showed Interest In Signing Rugby Legend Dan Carter As Kicker

They looked downcast, as if they had been misinformed about the purpose of the meeting. It was all so surreal. We chatted with the scouts a little more, then they said: 'Mr Kraft wants to meet with you.’ Mr Kraft was Robert Kraft, the team’s legendary owner who had bought them for £113million in 1994 — at the time the highest price ever paid for a sports franchise. I couldn’t believe that this guy wanted to meet me.

You could see how he’d become so successful, because he cut straight to the point with a series of very direct questions.

"Do you want to play football?"

"What are you going to bring to this team?"

"Do you think you can make the transition to the NFL?"

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I’ve worked with some incredible kicking coaches over the years but we had never gone into anything like this level of precision. The scout and I talked about the placement of the plant foot, the angle at which we position ourselves to the ball to open up the sweet spot, and the various parts of the ball. We went through film of six different NFL kickers in minute detail.

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The next time I bumped into Robert Kraft was at the Oscars later that year. He surprised me by not only remembering who I was, but asking whether I’d made that tape for his scouts. I laughed it off, but I was flattered that he was still interested. The idea was still floating in my mind a little.

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Username said:

Ronan O'Gara was very close to joining the Miami Dolphins about a decade ago if my memory serves me correctly, but opted to stick with Rugby. There's no reason the elite Rugby Union out halves couldn't make elite kickers in NFL, and Dan Carter is the elite of the elite.

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manxman2601 said:

They'd have the potential to make good punters too.

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manxman2601 said:

They'd have the potential to make good punters too.

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