The New England Patriots have been in need of some new energy in the coaching ranks on special teams, and the recent signing of Los Angeles Rams coordinator Jeremy Springer certainly provides that.
With Cam Achord seemingly having some difficulty in recent years and the return of Joe Judge not improving things, it wasn’t a surprise that new head coach Jerod Mayo opted to go in a different direction.
As Mayo continues re-staffing his team following the departure of Bill Belichick, going in a different direction on special teams definitely appeared to make sense. The club has had a surprising number of long returns in the kicking game in recent years, along with struggling to develop kickers, the latter of which continues to be a glaring issue.
Springer appears to be someone who might be able to help in those areas. He brings plenty of experience, having spent two years in Los Angeles, while also having spent eight years coaching at the collegiate level.
Three of those were spent as special teams coordinator at the University of Arizona, which is the alma mater of several notable Patriots, including Tedy Bruschi and Rob Gronkowski. He also spent a year at Marshall, which is where receivers coach Troy Brown played during his own collegiate days.
But how Springer potentially helps the Patriots at the kicker position is going to be interesting. Neither Brett Maher or Lucas Havrisik had a great year for the Rams in 2023, with Havrisik having joined the team midseason after the Rams signed him off of Cleveland’s practice squad.
(PHOTO: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports)
Havrisik finished the year 15/20 (75%), while Maher was 17/23 (73.9%). Long kicks were a weakness for Maher, who was just 3/7 from 50-59 yards. Havrisik was better from 50+, having hit 2/3, but he was also 2/6 from 40-49 yards, while Maher was 7/9 from those distances.
As a result, Springer leaves a situation that still appears to have plenty of questions and enters into a brand new one here in New England with Chad Ryland. Ryland was just 5/10 from 40-49 yards in his rookie year as well as 2/4 from 50+.
With quarterback still remaining a giant question mark and points likely set to be at a premium next season, that’s an area where hopefully Springer can have some success.
For now, the prospect of at least having a young, fresh perspective should help breathe some life into a group that has felt pretty stagnant the last two seasons.
As for what he brings, the 35-year-old Springer said in an interview during his time with the University of Arizona back in 2018 that “passion and energy” are two things he emphasizes with his players.
“First things first, have a lot of passion and energy. You’re going to hear me say it a lot,” said Springer. “I want guys to come out there and have fun with it, right? I don’t want that stagnant group where people are quiet and don’t want to be here. No, I want to make it fun for them.”
“Because you know what, my guys don’t come here to play special teams. Let’s just be honest. They come to play offense and defense. Maybe they were the best player in their high school, or playing running back only. They come here, they gotta make a role for themselves.”
“So, I try to make it fun, try to make them involved a little bit more. And I do that through my presentations and my actions everyday. I want to make it fun for the guys and make them enjoy playing special teams and build that culture.”
Hopefully, we’ll see the Patriots finally start to take some steps forward with that group as the club looks to improve on what was clearly a disappointing 2023 campaign.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
