Bryce Baringer’s grip on the Patriots’ punter job has tightened for now, and that alone says a lot about how far things have swung in New England’s special teams room.
For a team that has long treated the third phase like a core part of its identity, punting has suddenly become one of the spots under the brightest spotlight. The Patriots spent Bill Belichick’s tenure building special teams into an advantage, a point underscored again in recent days by Adam Vinatieri’s Hall of Fame induction. Under coordinator Jeremy Springer, that standard has carried forward, and special teams have improved enough to become a real focus again after years when kickers and punters were a headache.
That makes Baringer’s uneven stretch all the more important. He looked early in his NFL career like he could be the next steady hand in New England, but the last two seasons have been less secure.
At one point this offseason, he was viewed as a possible cut if his play didn’t turn around. Instead, he may have done just enough to hold off that outcome.
Baringer knows exactly why the pressure is there. Speaking with ESPN’s Mike Reiss, he said the fix starts with being steadier from week to week and with sharpening the details that matter most on his kicks.
“I want to be more consistent, one. Number two, big emphasis was hang time, and distance and having that relationship … The biggest thing I feel like I’ve done is more a switch in mindset than technique.”
That mindset change could be the biggest thing working in his favor. If his issues were tied in part to self-doubt, then addressing that side of the job matters just as much as any mechanical tweak.
And the Patriots have made it clear they’re paying attention. They brought in a few undrafted punters for offseason workouts, a move that sent a pretty obvious message that Baringer’s spot is not being handed to him.
His rough short kicks late in the season and into the playoffs are still fresh, and those are the kinds of mistakes that can change field position fast. If that trend shows up again, the Patriots have already done some homework on alternatives.
For now, though, this looks like Baringer’s job to lose. He has already shown he can be the kind of reliable specialist teams want. The question is whether the version that showed up early in his career can show up again before New England decides it needs someone else.
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