Rene Paredes

René Paredes (born May 15, 1985) is a Canadian professional football placekicker for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He is a two-time Grey Cup champion after winning with the Stampeders in 2014 and 2018 and is a five-time CFL All-Star. He also won the John Agro Special Teams Award as the CFL's Most Outstanding Special Teams player in .

Early life Paredes was born in Caracas, Venezuela and was raised in Pierrefonds, Quebec. He then played high school football in Miami, Florida.

University career Paredes kicks during a game with the Stingers in 2010 against the Guelph Gryphons. 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.

Calgary Stampeders 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 victory over the Lions, he made both field goal attempts and all four convert tries. 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. Paredes was again named a Division All-Star, a CFL All-Star, and was also named the CFL's Most Outstanding Special Teams player.

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

Paredes continued to excel on a consistent basis in 2016 as he set a career high for field goal attempts (64) and field goals made (56). He also had an in-season consecutive field goal streak of 32, which was the longest of his career and is the third-longest overall streak in CFL history. He signed a contract extension on December 9, 2016.

For the 2017 season, Paredes made 53 of 58 field goal attempts for the third-best percentage of his career (91.4%). At the end of the season, he was named a Divisional All-Star for the fourth time in his career. Paredes won his second Grey Cup championship in the Stampeders' 27–16 victory over the Ottawa Redblacks.

Paredes had 43 field goals on 52 attempts in 2019 and set a career-high for convert percentage (from 32-yards out) with 96.8% after connecting on 30 of 31 attempts. In 2021, he connected on 44 of 48 field goal attempts and had the best field goal percentage in the league en route to his fourth CFL All-Star Award. However, in the West Semi-Final game, he connected on just five of eight field goal attempts, including a 44-yard attempt in double overtime of a game that the Stampeders lost to the Saskatchewan Roughriders by a score of 33–30.

Entering the 2022 season, Paredes had made his last 19 regular season field goal attempts from the 2021 season. Through the first four games of 2022, he made another 11 consecutively before missing a 38-yard field goal attempt on July 7, 2022. His 30 consecutive field goals spanning the 2021 and 2022 seasons was tied for the fourth longest streak in CFL history. At the end of the season, Paredes was named a CFL All-Star for the fifth time in his career.

In 2023, Paredes had another strong year where he kicked 20 consecutive field goals from July to August and finished the year having made 52 of 60 field goal attempts. In the week one game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, he tied a career high with six field goals made in a game, which was the fifth time he had accomplished the feat. In the Labour Day Classic against the Edmonton Elks, he made a career-long 57-yard field goal, surpassing his previous best of 53 yards. During the week 16 game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, he moved into sole possession of second place in Stampeders history with his 225th game played for the franchise. On December 11, 2024, he signed a two-year extension with the team, avoiding free agency.