The Patriots opened the week by placing a $4.59 million franchise tag on kicker Stephen Gostkowski.
Gostkowski ended the week by signing it.
Field Yates of ESPN.com reports that Gostkowski has signed the tag, which guarantees him that salary absent agreement on a multi-year deal with the team. Signing the tag also eliminates the possibility, however remote, that the Patriots would rescind the tag and leave Gostkowski, who has been in New England since 2006, in search of a new home.
The Patriots and Gostkowski can work on a longer deal thru July 15 and the Patriots said they intended to do just that when they announced their decision to use the tag on Monday.
With that taken care of, whatever attention the Patriots were paying to the status of the tag can now be applied to other matters. Safety Devin McCourty is the biggest free agent-to-be, although the resolution of cornerback Darrelle Revis’s status for 2015 probably stands as the most pressing issue for the Super Bowl champs.