The New England Patriots locked one of the key pieces to their Super Bowl success last season signing kicker Stephen Gostkowski to a four-year contract, which according to a source by ESPN is worth $17.2 million.

Gostkowski was given a franchise tag by the Patriots last March and was set to earn $4.5 million next season if he signed it.

In a statement the Patriots said, "Stephen has been extremely productive and a vital component to our success since joining our team in 2006. Utilizing the franchise designation allows both sides more time to try to reach an agreement, which is the goal."

But the Patriots came up with the deal before the deadline to keep the 31-year-old athlete.

Gostkowski, who was the National Football League's (NFL) leading scorer last season with 156 points, was a fourth-round draft pick in 2006 by the Patriots to replace Adam Vinatieri who had been with the team for nine seasons since 1996 and left to join the Indianapolis Colts in 2006.

His performance in 2014 helped him surpass Vinatieri as the Patriots' all-time leading scorer.

Gostkowski was 35-of-37 on his field goal attempts last season and was successful on all of his 51 extra point attempts.

Meanwhile in other Patriots news, Sports Illustrated's Peter King was interviewed on The Dan Patrick Show and spoke about quarterback Tom Brady's appeal to the penalties he received in relation to the Deflategate scandal.

Brady was handed a four-game suspension while the Patriots were fined $1 million and two draft-picks were taken away from them.

King said on the radio interview that the NFL does not have any concrete evidence on the issue and Brady knowing anything about the deflated footballs.

"There's a lot of circumstantial evidence, but no hard evidence that Tom Brady ever told directed anybody, 'I want you to deflate these balls below 12.5 per square inch every home game,'" King stated.

He added that the sanctions must be deferred until the end of the season to observe during the season what the weather does to the footballs and have a stronger evidence for the Patriots' case.