Are the Patriots looking to get rid of a former All-Pro?

While most of the attention, and rightfully so, has been on the Patriots quarterback situation, the struggles at another position have been able to fly under the radar. Well, at least until this week. ESPN’s Mike Reiss reported this morning that amidst the struggles of punter Jake Bailey, the Patriots could be looking elsewhere.

A lot of people may not pay attention to special teams, but Bill Belichick got his start in the NFL as a special teams coach and places a big emphasis on that phase of the game. To be bringing in players for a tryout shows that Belichick is not happy with where his punt and kick return units are at this point in the season. Is he bringing in competition to try and light a spark under Bailey? Perhaps but the statistics show you can’t get much worse than what Bailey has been so far this season.

Among punters, Bailey ranks 31st with a 43.2 yard per punt average, which would be the worst of his four-year career and 5.5 yards worse than his 2020 Pro Bowl season. Bailey ranks 17th in the league with nine punts downed inside the 20-yard line and is also middle-of-the-pack when it comes to return yards given up (122, the Patriots gave up only 138 return yards in 2021).

Bailey’s poor punting was on display Monday night as he was unable to flip the field after the Patriots first two possessions, giving Chicago starting field position at its’ own 34-yard line followed by the 44-yard line. Late in the third quarter, Bailey had a 33-yard punt with very little hang time which resulted in a 27-yard return and gave the Bears the ball at the Patriots 39-yard line. Eight plays later, they were in the end zone and the game was all but over.

However, it hasn’t only been punts where Bailey has struggled this season. As he has for the past four seasons, Bailey handles kickoff duties for the Patriots as well. The kickoff numbers are slightly better than the punting ones but not by much as Bailey ranks 28th with 61.3% of his kicks going for a touchback. Bailey also seems to be struggling with the depth of his kicks as the Patriots rank near the bottom of the league in kick return defense. This chart from data analyst Joseph Jefe shows that New England opponents are taking advantage of Bailey’s poor kicks and returning them to almost the 30-yard line, costing the Patriots field position.

There is no doubt that Bailey has struggled this season, but to be fully replaced? That would be quite the drop for a guy who was a first-team All-Pro only two seasons ago and who was made the third-highest paid punter in the NFL over the summer.