2017 Patriots position-by-position review: Big plays, penalties and injury make up special teams story

With the Patriots’ 2017 season done, we’re going to take a look back at the team by position, and provide a few thoughts as to what the future might hold at that spot moving forward. We’ve looked at both offense and defense. Now, it’s special teams.

2017 depth chart (regular-season stats via Pro Football Reference): Kicker Stephen Gostkowski (37-40 on field goals, 45-47 on extra points), punter Ryan Allen (43.4 yards per punt), long snapper Joe Cardona, Matthew Slater, Brandon King, Nate Ebner, Brandon Bolden, KR Dion Lewis (24.8 yards per return, 1 TD), PR Danny Amendola (8.6 yards per return).

Contract status: Gostkowski (signed through 2018), Allen (signed through 2018), Cardona (signed through 2018), Slater (free agent), King (restricted free agent), Ebner (free agent), Bolden (free agent), Lewis (free agent), Amendola (free agent).

Overview: A good but not great year for this group. There were plenty of high points, including a kick return for a touchdown from Lewis, a blocked punt from Rex Burkhead, the continued open-field excellence of Slater, and a career-best 62-yard field goal from Gostkowski. All of those positives contributed to a third-place finish in the highly-touted special teams rankings from Rick Gosselin, a list Bill Belichick has spoken of highly in the past. However, this group was also held back by a few things, including the fact that they were one of the worst offenders in the league when it came to special teams penalties (24, tied for fourth, per NFLpenalties.com). There were also injuries to core special teamers like Ebner, Slater and Julian Edelman. Ultimately, there was more good than bad, but there was still a sense that the Patriots didn't get quite as much out of their special teamers as they had in year's past.

Best Moment: Got four of them. First is Gostkowski’s 62-yard field goal against the Raiders, a blast that might have been good from 70 yards in the high altitudes of Mexico City. Two different angles:





The next two are both from the same game, and both are pretty much the definition of perfect special teams execution. Slater starts at the bottom on both punts, and on both plays, Allen angles it toward Slater’s side of the field. On both plays, Slater undresses New York’s Buster Skrine, who has no chance at re-directing him off the line. And on both plays, Slater downs the punt inside the 5-yard line. True story: after the second punt, I overheard one New York writer say to the other in the press box, “So that’s why he’s a Pro Bowler this year after only playing so few snaps this year.”





And three was Burkhead’s blocked punt against the Broncos, a thunderbolt of a play that took a raucous Denver crowd out of the game in the early going.



Worst Moment: Gostkowski knocked a 26-yard field-goal attempt off the left upright in the first half of the Super Bowl on a play that looked like it was either a bad snap or botched hold. Second place was a pair of missed field goals — which accounted for two of Gostkowski’s three missed field-goal attempts in the regular season — in an October game against the Chargers almost cost New England the game.

By the numbers: Gostkowski has connected on 87.6 percent of his regular-season field-goal attempts in his career, the best percentage in Patriots history. (Adam Vinatieri is second at 81.9.) Additionally, Gostkowski’s 87.6 field goal percentage is third-best among NFL kickers all-time.

A few thoughts about the position: Steady as she goes here. There are a ton of free agents at the top of the page, but despite Greg’s feelings when it comes to special-teams types at the back end of the roster, I can see Belichick re-signing almost all of them. You add Edelman back into the mix at punt returner, get Ebner back after that knee injury and have a year of a healthy Slater, that’s the first step in getting this group back to where it needs to be in 2018 and beyond.

Chance Patriots address this position in free agency: Slim. I can see the Patriots bringing in a kicker to maybe push Gostkowski this spring and/or summer. Other than that, I can’t imagine a ton of changes.

Chance Patriots address this position in the draft: Slim. I mean, there’s always a surprise who shows up on occasion to make a play on special teams, the first step on the way to securing a roster spot (Jonathan Jones is one who immediately comes to mind). But for the most part, don’t expect the Patriots to make special teams a priority in the draft.