Commanders eye rookie fix after trying 4 kickers in 2024 season

The Washington Commanders may be turning to a young Venezuelan to solve their kicking issues from a season ago. In 2024, the club used four players at that position, ultimately settling on Zane Gonzalez down the season’s stretch.

Gonzalez only made 71.4% of his field goals with Washington last season, which may be why they’re looking to the upcoming draft to bolster that position.

One of the top kicking prospects in the draft is Andres Borregales of the Miami Hurricanes. On Monday, 24/7 sports reporter Gaby Urrutia said on X:

“Miami kicker Andres Borregales is currently having a private workout with the Washington Commanders in Coral Gables.”

Gonzalez only joined the Commanders in November of last year, though Austin Seibert, Greg Joseph, and Cade York also handled the kicking duties at one point in 2024.

Borregales is currently pegged to go in the fifth round of the draft, according to nfldraftbuzz.com. The NFL Network praises his distance, making 75% of his field goals from 50 yards or further in college, while he has a career make rate in that department of 86% over four years. Borregales has an outstanding trajectory on longer field goals with rock-solid mechanics from the ground up.

One of his biggest drawbacks is his below-average hang time on his kickoffs, though they say he consistently flies his kicks with end-over-end action.

In his final season with the Hurricanes, Borregales made 18 of his 19 field goal attempts while successfully converting all 62 of his extra points. He was named a First-team All-ACC player in his 2023 and 2024 collegiate campaigns, missing just four field goals in 2023.

A family affair

You don’t hear many players born in Venezuela making it to the NFL, but the name Borregales may be familiar to some NFL fans. That’s because Andres Borregales had a brother who had a brief stint in the NFL as a kicker.

José Borregales signed as an undrafted free agent with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2021 after being a Unanimous All-American in 2020 and being named a First-team All-ACC player.

The Bucs waived him in September 2021 before he joined the practice squad. He was eventually let go for good in August 2022. The elder Borregales won the Lou Groza Award for the top placekicker in college football in 2020. The younger Borregales was born in Caracas but immigrated to the United States with his family when he was one.