Matthew Slater’s visit to free agency is over five days before it was scheduled to begin.
The New England Patriots have reached a two-year contract extension with the captain of the kicking game, sources told ESPN’s Field Yates on Friday evening.
Slater’s deal, according to Yates, is similar to his two-year pact from the spring of 2018, which averaged $2.6 million per season.
The 34-year-old gunner played a team-high 326 snaps on special teams this past campaign with New England. Slater recorded 10 tackles, a blocked punt and his first NFL touchdown in the process.
His eighth Pro Bowl and fifth AP first-team All-Pro selection were the byproduct.
Slater, a fifth-round pick in the 2008 NFL draft, has caught one career pass and served as a Patriots captain since 2011. The UCLA product’s tenure among current members of the New England roster is outlasted by only kicker Stephen Gostkowski and impending free-agent quarterback Tom Brady.
The new league year opens Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET.