Brenden Schooler embracing changing assignments early in training camp
After being a special teams ace during his first two seasons in New England, Brenden Schooler is working much more at his college position of safety this training camp.
During his first two training camps with the New England Patriots, it was always easy to find Brenden Schooler on the practice field. Schooler, who joined the team as a UDFA in 2022 as a kick coverage specialist, was always right alongside longtime special teams ace Matthew Slater.
The two would go through their own workout as offensive and defensive players went through individual and team drills, only joining the rest of the roster for special teams periods. It was a practice routine Slater created starting in 2017, in order to better hone his craft (more on that in this piece by Bob Socci from last spring). He’d typically be joined by other special teams-specific players on the roster, including Schooler the past two years.
Given Bill Belichick’s focus on special teams, this roster structure and practice routine made sense. However, as the Jerod Mayo/Eliot Wolf era begins in New England, that focus is shifting.
After two rough years in the kicking game, the Patriots are no longer dedicating the same roster resources to special teams coverage players. Slater and Cody Davis both retired, while Chris Board was not brought back in free agency. That leaves Schooler as the lone remaining core player of the group.
However, Schooler isn’t picking up where the old guard left off. In perhaps another sign of a shift in philosophy, he hasn’t been doing the solo gunner work Slater did for the previous few years. Instead, outside of team special teams periods, Schooler has been working with the defense working as a safety.
“I thought it was important to not just have core special teams players only focused on special teams,” Mayo told reporters on Monday, when asked about Schooler working more with the defense. “There will be times where maybe we need to get out of a game because of injuries or whatever it is. Hopefully it’s from blowing another team out and putting him in there. But he needs to have a fundamental understanding of our defense.”
That’s something Schooler is clearly working towards. His presence in the secondary hasn’t been a rare thing. He’s been a regular part of the safety rotation repping often in team drills. Those reps have mostly been with the second and third units, but has seen some time with members of the top defense.
“[I’m] just more with the defensive side of the ball now and just getting more comfortable being back there with the guys, making checks and making calls, flying around, having fun,” Schooler told reporters on Sunday when asked about his new practice routine.
Schooler isn’t completely new to the position. He began his college career as a safety, starting 10 games and playing 755 defensive snaps for Oregon as a true freshman in 2016 when he recorded four interceptions.
As a sophomore Schooler made the move to wide receiver (on top of playing special teams – he was First Team All-Pac-12 as a coverage player in 2017 and 2018), and played four seasons on the offensive side of the football. In 2020 he transferred to Texas, and in his final year in college in 2021 he moved back to safety, playing in 11 games with seven starts at safety for the Longhorns.
Now back on the back end in the NFL, Schooler says the work he put in at the position during the spring has helped him make the most of the opportunities he’s getting early this summer.
“During OTAs it was kind of like the same schedule for me,” Schooler recalled. “So it’s been – that was I think the acclimation period. And now it’s – I feel pretty comfortable with it back there. Moving around, backpedaling, breaking. It’s been fun.” Schooler was named an offseason award winner by the team for his work this spring.
“This guy can run, and this guy can tackle and this guy is smart. You put those three things together, you’ve got a pretty good defensive player,” Mayo said, when asked to evaluate Schooler’s safety play so far this summer.
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As he gets more involved on defense, Schooler is embracing working with one of the most talented position groups on the Patriots’ roster.
“I love working with those guys,” he said of spending more time with the safeties. “Pep [Jabrill Peppers], Dug [Kyle Dugger], Jaylinn Hawkins, Josh Bledsoe, Tey [Marte Mapu], all those guys. I love working with them. They’re all great dudes and we all just try to push each other, hold each other to that standard. And it just brings everybody’s level of game up.”
Those teammates have recognized the work Schooler has put in as well. “Oh, for sure,” Dugger remarked, when asked if he could tell Schooler has played safety at a high level before. “He’s more than capable of being back there. The confidence is going up. Communication is going up. He’s really starting to become confident in his calls. We knew he could do it. It was just about him believing in yourself and believing in what he sees and things like that.”
“He’s attentive, he’s asking questions, and he’s communicating just like the rest of us,” Dugger said of the presence Schooler has been in the safety room off the field.
As Schooler continues to practice at safety, the big question is how that will translate to gamedays. Whatever defensive role he ends up filling, if at all, Schooler is enjoying the process.
“I love being back out there, being more involved on the defensive side of the ball,” Schooler said. “I just want to be out there doing anything I can to help this team win and just play some more football.”
As for whether or not there are any immediate plans for him to play safety in game action? “That’s a question for the coaches,” Schooler said on Sunday, adding, “I just do what I’m told.”
While the Patriots have plenty of depth at strong safety they’re thinner at free safety – where Schooler is more of a natural fit. Hawkins is the lone true free safety on the roster. Dugger and Peppers play that role at times but are more effective in the box, with cornerbacks Jonathan Jones and Marcus Jones having some experience back there as well.
Whatever he ends up doing on defense, Schooler is still in line to be one of the leaders of the Patriots’ special teams units in 2024. He will have some familiar faces along with him – while last year’s pillars are all gone, the team did retain running back JaMycal Hasty and linebacker Christian Elliss. Both players signed with the Patriots late last year and played limited roles in the kicking game after arriving. Like Schooler though, both have spent this training camp practicing at their listed positions.
The end of dedicated specialists in New England would be the end of an era and one major change in philosophy of the post-Belichick era. Whether or not that change works out will be determined in the long-term, but for now it is creating more opportunities for certain players on the roster – with Brenden Schooler the prime example.
