Rene Paredes

Rene Paredes (born May 15, 1985) is a Canadian football placekicker for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League (CFL).

After graduating high school, Paredes returned to Montreal to play CIS football for the Concordia Stingers, where he played from 2007 to 2010.

In those four years, he made 54 of 79 field goal attempts and 73 of 76 convert attempts.

He also performed kickoffs for the team throughout his university career and was the team's punter in 2008 and 2009.

Paredes attended training camp with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2010, but returned to university to play for the Stingers.

He also played in all three of the Stampeders' post-season games, including his first Grey Cup with the 100th Grey Cup game, where he was eight-for-eight on field goal attempts in those games.

However, when it mattered the most, Paredes was perfect as he made both field goal attempts and both point-after-touchdown convert attempts in the 102nd Grey Cup game as the Stampeders defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 20–16.

He also punted for the first time as a professional in the second half of the championship game following an injury to Maver.

Paredes' fourth quarter punt was returned for a touchdown that appeared to be the winning score for the Tiger-Cats, but was called back due to a penalty.

Paredes won the first Grey Cup championship of his career.

In the following year, he was signed by the Blue Bombers on May 16, 2011, but was released after the preseason games on June 25, 2011.

The Calgary Stampeders' incumbent placekicker, Rob Maver, had suffered a quadriceps injury in the team's season opener in 2011, so the team signed Paredes on July 4, 2011, to replace him.

Paredes had planned on returning to Concordia for his final season of eligibility, but instead played in his first professional regular season game on July 8, 2011, against the BC Lions.

In that game, Paredes was successful on a 50-yard field goal as his first ever field goal attempt in the CFL.

In that victory over the Lions, he made both field goal attempts and all four convert tries.

He struggled in the next four games with misses in each game, but was able to consult with a sports psychologist during that time and he became more consistent thereafter.

Despite Maver becoming healthy in September, Paredes remained as the team's field goal kicker and he finished the season having played in 17 regular season games where he made 35 of 45 field goal attempts with a 77.8% completion percentage.

He was also the team's kickoff specialist where he had 88 kickoffs with a 60.1-yard average.

In 2011, Paredes also played in his first post-season game where he made his career-longest field goal, at 52 yards, and was perfect on all three attempts in a West Semi-Final loss to the Edmonton Eskimos.

The 2012 CFL season saw Paredes establish himself as one of the most reliable kickers in the league.

He opened the season as the Stampeders' placekicker while Maver became the team's punter following Burke Dales' departure in free agency.

Paredes played in all 18 regular season games and was successful on 40 of his 43 field goal attempts, with the 93.0% field goal percentage ranking as the second best in CFL history.

He also finished the regular season having connected of 18 consecutive tries.

For his remarkable sophomore season, Paredes was named a CFL All-Star in 2012.

He was also the team's nominee for the Most Outstanding Special Teams player in 2012.

Paredes signed a contract extension on January 10, 2013.

He continued his outstanding play in 2013 as he built upon his streak of 18 straight field goals made from the previous year.

On July 26, 2013, in a game versus the Blue Bombers, Paredes successfully converted five field goal attempts on his way to breaking the all-time Canadian Football League record for most consecutive field goal conversions previously held by Paul McCallum.

Paredes entered the game with 29 consecutive field goal conversions, one behind McCallum's record, and finished the night with 34.

His streak ended at 39 on August 23, 2013, against the Toronto Argonauts when he missed a 22-yard field goal.

Because of his lengthy streak and continued strong play, Paredes missed just three field goals to finish with the best conversion percentage in a single CFL season, making 54 of 57 attempts for a record 94.7% conversion rate.

Paredes was again named a Division All-Star, a CFL All-Star, and was also named the CFL's Most Outstanding Special Teams player.

He is a two-time Grey Cup champion after winning with the Stampeders in 2014 and 2018 and is a four-time CFL All-Star.

He also won the John Agro Special Teams Award as the CFL's Most Outstanding Special Teams player in.

Paredes was born in Caracas, Venezuela and was raised in Pierrefonds, Quebec.

He then played high school football in Miami, Florida.

Following a record-breaking season, Paredes had a challenging year in 2014 as he connected on just 33 of his 45 field goal attempts for a 73.3% completion percentage, which is the worst of his career.

He also missed a field goal in the post-season for the first time in his career in the West Final against the Eskimos.

In 2015, Paredes returned to form as he made 41 of 47 field goal attempts for an 87.2% completion rate.

While both the consecutive field goal record and the single season percentage record were since broken in 2018 by Lewis Ward, Paredes' season still stands as one of the best by a placekicker in CFL history.