Patriots make weird move and cut ties with punter Jake Bailey
One of the unusual parts about the New England Patriots in 2022 was their special teams.
Their offense took a lot of criticism from fans, radio talk show hosts, and analysts alike; rightfully so. But their special teams is a unit that should’ve been talked about more.
Their special teams let up two kick return touchdowns in a loss to the Buffalo Bills in the regular season finale. They also had too many incidents where they received penalties for running into the punter.
But what was the most weird of all was the season of punter Jake Bailey.
Bailey was injured, then got his suspension from Bill Belichick late in the season. Now? He has been released from the Patriots.
Considering the Patriots signed Bailey to an extension in August, this move does seem a little weird.
New England Patriots having an up and down Jake Bailey
It truly was the highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows when you talk about Jake Bailey’s career in Foxborough.
The 6-foot-2 punter was the lone bright spot of the COVID season in 2020. He was named as a Pro Bowler as well as a First-Team All-Pro punter.
He also had a solid season in 2021, kicking for over 5,700 yards on kickoffs and registered 42 touchbacks. But then things turned for worse in 2022.
He was injured and couldn’t quite recover from it. He only appeared in nine games and kick for nearly 2,000 yards less than the previous season.
Then there was the suspension. Was it because of the way he treated his injuries? Or was it that he actually did something that we as fans aren’t aware of? I don’t know honestly.
But that’s the career of Jake Bailey in a nutshell.
New England Patriots having to take care of other players aside from Jake Bailey
Look, the punter is one of the forgotten about positions in football when it comes to importance. I think that’s part of what happened here with Jake Bailey.
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The Patriots need to upgrade their offense, at the wide receiver position as well as the tackles on the offensive line. They also could use a safety now that Devin McCourty has officially retired.
So it makes sense that Jake Bailey is one of the guys that they had to let go of before the start of free agency Monday. The $6 million cap hit for Bailey’s release does stink.
But hopefully, there can be some money somehow added to the cap that can help sure up another area for this Patriots team.
This move does indeed feel weird, but you could bet it was going to come sooner rather than later.
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The 2020-2021 version of Bailey would probably be back for the 2023 season. But because of the injury, suspension, and lack of production; Jake Bailey had to go.
The Patriots can draft a punter in the upcoming NFL draft to replace him anyway. So hopefully, the special teams improves with a better punter and better situational football come September.