Stephen Gostkowski had season-ending hip surgery last October and it not only likely will allow him to continue his football career, but also allow him to have an active lifestyle into his 40s.

The 36-year-old told Pat McAfee on "The Pat McAfee Show" Wednesday if he didn't have the surgery last year, he may have needed hip replacement surgery a few years down the road.

“If I kept playing on it and I kept doing more and more damage on it, I was looking at being 40 and having hip replacement," he said. "Getting it taken care of sooner rather than later helped prolong my active lifestyle and possibly to continue playing.”

He added: “You do something, the same thing over and over again for a long time, you’re gonna feel like crap. My plant leg, taking a lot of pounding over the years, just started giving out on me.”

Gostkowski, who was released by the Patriots this offseason as the franchise's all-time leading scorer, said he tried to play through it, but enough was enough.

“I would feel very good for about 30, 45 minutes," he said. "But then I would sit down and five minutes later I would feel like I was like 65 years old.”

The kicker is still a free agent, but given his success in the league it is likely he will find a job before the start of next season.