For over 15 years, the New England Patriots had one of the best special teams players in the entire NFL, as Matthew Slater made 10 Pro Bowls and eight All-Pros.
Now, that Slater has called it a career and has transitioned to the coaching/support staff, the Patriots will need to have someone step up and lead the special teams units.
It looks like safety Brenden Schooler is ready for that challenge.
"Being one of those guys that has a lot of game experience, especially when you talk about special teams and that core group, I think I'm trying to take more of a leadership role," Schooler explained on Tuesday. "Matt was the guy for the last two seasons that I was here, so I'm just taking that leadership role on and holding those guys to a certain standard. Any little bit of information I have, like a tip or anything, I'm trying to help these young guys and bring them along with us because the faster that they get acclimated to the game and the more they know then that's better for the whole team in general. It's been fun taking on that new role."
Schooler entered the league as an undrafted free agent out of Texas in 2022, and he's made an impact in the third phase of the game for the Patriots in his first two years, as he's recovered multiple muffed punts and blocked a field goal against the Miami Dolphins in 2023.
If he can show his teammates the type of work it takes to be an exceptional special teams player, they'll learn from that and follow his lead. Those are the leaders that a new head coach needs to lean on, and Jerod Mayo appears to have than in the former Longhorn.
