The New England Patriots held tryouts for two punters during rookie and mandatory minicamp this offseason. Neither was signed.
Instead, the team entered training camp with confidence in Bryce Baringer.
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The 27-year old is coming off a season in which he punted a career-low 51 times in the regular season before a busy playoff run. Baringer continued to showcase his big leg by again eclipsing the 70-yard longest punt mark and recording a career-best 4.41-second average hang time, but remained hampered by the occasional mishit — such as a 22-yard punt in Week 13 against the Giants.
That’s why Baringer’s offseason focus was centered on one thing.
“I want to be more consistent,” he said. “No. 2, big emphasis was hang time and distance. Kind of having that relationship. Just knowing what I’m capable of doing, trusting myself, my process. Like I said, [Jeremy Springer], [Tom Quinn], [Mike Vrabel], they all know what I’m capable of. It’s just going out and being able to do it, and just trusting myself wholeheartedly.”
In addition to slight tweaks to his mechanics, Baringer is hoping a new mental approach can help him find more consistency on a kick-to-kick basis.
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“Looking at it more holistically. If it was a punt that I didn’t like, rather than being upset about it — obviously I’m going to be upset about it, I’m very hard on myself — flip it to the 180. ‘Okay, what did I do wrong there? And how can I not do it again?’,” Baringer said. “Rather than coach has talked about in squad meetings, if you’re in a rut or a lull, don’t let it bleed into further reps or plays. And that’s kind of what I’m working on right now.”
As Baringer enters the final year of his rookie contract, he stands without direct competition on the roster during training camp. Head coach Mike Vrabel also praised the punter for his work as a holder and the positive impact he has on kicker Andy Borregales.
“Bryce is such a calming piece for Andy and does a nice job,” Vrabel said. “Really, we want our punters to be great holders and excellent at plus-50 punts. If we punt, we want them to be plus-50. That means we are moving the football and giving me a decision whether we are going to go for it on fourth down or we are going to punt. So, again, we cannot take those guys for granted, and the reason when they do their job, you never hear about them.”
Through the early portion of training camp, Baringer has seemingly struck the ball well while Borregales has been nearly perfect, connecting on 28-of-30 field goal attempts.
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The specialists — which also includes second-year long snapper Julian Ashby — have set a high standard for themselves, and Baringer believes the coaching staff continues to push them because it knows what the group is capable of.
“[The coaches] have a large amount of trust in us, they know what we’re capable of, and that’s why they’re hard on us, because they know what we’re capable of doing,” Baringer said. “Coach talked about it yesterday. He’s trying — if you squeeze an orange, you’re going to get orange juice out of it. Like, whatever you squeeze is what you are. That’s you. And so, he’s just trying to pull that out of us, which is awesome.”
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