How the Patriots’ special teams ace managed to elevate himself from the pack.

When Brenden Schooler entered the NFL in 2022, he did so with little fanfare. A veteran of six college seasons split between three programs and two positions — defensive back and wide receiver — he did not hear his name called in the draft and had to go the free agency route before finally landing in New England.

Even though he lacked pedigree or draft status, Schooler managed to carve out a role as a core member of the Patriots’ special teams units. First serving as an understudy to team captain Matthew Slater, he took over as the main man in 2024.

Despite the added focus and responsibility, Schooler managed to take his game up a notch and establish himself as a worthy heir to Slater’s former role. As a result of that, he was named to his first Pro Bowl earlier this week.

“He’s become the guy,” explained Patriots special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer during a press conference on Friday. “To be able to be the guy and rise up to the occasion, play at a different level than even the first two years he was playing, that’s why he’s a Pro Bowler and other teams around the league respect that.”

What exactly has he done to stand above the rest in the AFC in what is the oft-forgotten third phase of the game, though? For starters, the numbers: nine tackles including seven solo tackles, and a blocked punt in Week 5 versus Miami.

Those statistics, however, paint only half the picture. One could even argue that Schooler has made the Pro Bowl in spite of ranking only 27th in the NFL in combined kicking game tackles, 11th in solo takedowns, and being tied for fourth with 34 others with one block.

For a more accurate view on his impact and how Schooler ultimately became a Pro Bowler, one has to look beyond the stat sheet.

Highlights from ST Brenden Schooler’s first Pro Bowl campaign pic.twitter.com/4fyjHC19bM

— Taylor Kyles (@tkyles39) January 2, 2025

“Schooler is one of those guys that everything’s 100 miles per hour,” said head coach Jerod Mayo. “Nothing happens on accident. He’s one of our hardest workers, and at the end of the season to be named a Pro Bowl player is definitely huge.

A regular on five units and the Patriots’ leader in special teams snaps, Schooler’s most notable contributions have come on punt and kickoff coverage. He regularly is one of the first players down the field, and as such either in a position to make a play on the ball carrier himself or to at least force him to adjust his path down the field.

Beyond that, he also has helped force opposing returners to catch kicks fairly rather than run them back. With Schooler charging toward them, most of the times they opted for the safe play rather than exposing themselves to the third-year man and his physical style of play.

2 minutes of Schooler forcing fair catches pic.twitter.com/q3NACiusYu

— Taylor Kyles (@tkyles39) January 2, 2025

What makes Schooler’s impact on the Patriots’ kicking game operation even more impressive is the attention he commands. Opposing teams have identified him as the player to account for, something else he inherited from Matthew Slater.

In the eyes of Jeremy Springer, that respect is why Schooler has been voted a Pro Bowler. And the basis of all that is his work ethic and consistency.

“The way that he’s worked since I’ve been here — since OTAs until now — and the demand that he brings every week from teams, the double teams he gets, there is not a play where he is not accounted for on any unit,” the Patriots’ first-year special teams coach said. “What he’s done week in and week out: be consistent, same attitude, be consistent even through the losses.

“He’s just come to work every day, and it’s all him. You’d like to take some credit — ‘I helped in that’ — but, in my opinion, it’s all him. He’s really, really worked, and really, really trusted us, and trusted Slater, Coach [Tom] Quinn, Coach Mayo, and just ran with it.”

Despite Springer only arriving in New England during the 2024 offseason, he and Schooler go way back. After starting his college career in Oregon, he decided to transfer to Arizona and then-Wildcats special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer in 2020.

That transfer was short-lived due to Covid-19 forcing the cancellation of the Pac-12 season — Schooler instead decided to move once more and join the University of Texas — but it was enough to leave a positive impression on Springer. So much so, that he later lobbied for the Los Angeles Rams to pick him up in 2022.

Schooler instead decided to take his talents to New England. The move has paid off both in terms of his development into a blue-chip special teamer, and financially: he signed a three-year, $9 million contract extension in October.

The Patriots’ special teams unit therefore will have its leader for the foreseeable future, and Springer a role model to work with.

“I couldn’t be more proud of him, to be honest,” he said. “I’m just happy that I’m a part of it and can watch it in person, because I know what it looks like now and what a Pro Bowl looks like. Hopefully, he can just build on that and stay consistent.”