Kickers get the yips.
This isn't a mystery.
Folk is obviously a much better kicker, but look what happened last year in the weather. His leg weakened. He could not kick anything beyond 40. He was missing.
We needed a new kicker over Folk.
Ryland was considered the 2nd best kicker coming out of college. One guy was drafted before him. Other teams needed kickers. Plenty of kickers have been drafted. We drafted Gost. Harrison Butker, Sanders, Carlson, Matt Gay, 4 of the best 5 in the NFL, all drafted. Even Nick Folk was drafted.
Ryland was a bad pick. I had hopes for him early because I saw he had a huge leg and all his hits were crisp and straight, end over end. He is maybe a head case, because he could not overcome his constant failures. If you compared him to his prior performance, you would say he had the yips. This happened to folk early in his career. He came out of it.
Patriots need one or two more kickers in camo to unseat him, because they can't wait for him to get his act together.