With the 2024 season in the books, MassLive will look at each position group on the Patriots, analyzing how the team performed and where it might be heading in the future. This is an important offseason for new Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel and owner Robert Kraft. This series concludes with special teams.
Special teams: Joey Slye, Bryce Baringer, Joe Cardona, Brendan Schooler, Marcus Jones, John Parker Romo
Contract situation: At kicker, Slye will be an unrestricted free agent in March. The Patriots signed Romo to a futures contract. He has a $960,000 cap hit.
Baringer will be in the third year of his rookie contract. The punter has a $1.07 million cap hit and is signed through 2026. Cardona will have a $1.59 million cap number. The long snapper is also signed through 2026.
Among the team’s most important special teamers, Schooler is signed through 2027. He’ll have a $2.72 million cap hit next season. Jones, the Patriots punt returner, is in the final year of his rookie deal with a $1.64 million cap number.
2024 review: For the second straight season, the Patriots lacked consistency in the kicking game.
Slye beat out Chad Ryland in training camp and the competition wasn’t that close. The veteran started well, hitting a franchise-record 63-yard field goal in Week 4. However, inconsistency plagued Syle throughout 2024. He made only 78.8% of his field goals (26 of 33). Syle’s field goal percentage ranked him 29th in the NFL.
Ryland landed in Arizona and rebounded, hitting multiple game-winning field goals. He finished 13th in the NFL in field goal percentage (87.5).
It wasn’t all bad.
Schooler established himself as one of the premier special teams players in the NFL. He earned Pro Bowl and First-Team All-Pro honors. Mentored by Matthew Slater, Schooler is now following in the legend’s footsteps. He led the Patriots with nine special teams tackles and blocked a field goal.
Baringer had another solid season. He became the second punter in Patriots history to land at least 30 punts inside the 20-yard line in back-to-back seasons. Baringer finished the season with a 49.8 average, which set a Patriots single-season record.
At punt returner, Jones was once again one of the best in the NFL. He finished second in the league with a 14.8 return average.
The Patriots tried four different players at kick returner – Antonio Gibson (26.6 average), Alex Erickson (26.5), Javon Baker (26.3) and Jamycal Hasty (23.8).
The future: For the second straight offseason, the Patriots need to look for help at the kicker position.
They have Romo under contract and he could get a chance to win the job. Last season, he made 11 of 12 field goals in Minnesota before landing on the Patriots practice squad. The team will likely look to add a veteran.
One notable name is Nick Folk. The 40-year-old, who was great in New England, led the NFL with a 95.5 field goal percentage last season. The Patriots traded him to Tennessee in 2023 where he played for Mike Vrabel.
Other veteran free agent options include Eddie Pineiro (84.6%), Austin Seibert (90%), and Brandon McManus (95.2%). Any of those kickers would give the Patriots a better option than they had last season.
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