When Behren Morton came out to punt on Saturday night during the New England Patriots’ second preseason game of 2026, it felt like a fun moment where Mike Vrabel might be using that game to explore his depth behind starter Bryce Baringer.
As it turns out, Baringer actually seems to have suffered an injury in that game, and the Patriots will instead have to start exploring more serious options.
Vrabel told reporters during his press conference on Monday that Baringer did get hurt at some point in the game.
“It happened in the game, yes,” said Vrabel when asked about when the injury occurred. “I mean, I wouldn’t make him go out and kick while he was injured.”
“But it was something that occurred during the game, which is why the quarterback had to punt.”
Following the game, Vrabel had mentioned that, “Bryce [Baringer] wasn’t feeling great after the first 2 punts,” adding, “So, I figured instead of risking anything there with Bryce or with Andy [Borregales], that Behren was able to get us out of there.”
With Baringer’s status now in question, Vrabel also said the team was actively looking for a new punter.
“Yeah, I think we will,” said Vrabel when asked if they were bringing in a new punter. “So we’ll probably sign somebody here shortly.”
It’s not clear when the injury happened. Baringer punted once early in the game, booting a 30-yard punt from New England’s own 50, which fluttered and was actually muffed by Eagles receiver Britain Covey, and the Patriots nearly recovered it. He followed that one up on the next series with a booming 61-yard kick that landed at the Eagles’ 2-yard line, but was returned 21 yards by Covey out to the 23.
But after that, Morton took over, and Baringer ended up just handling his normal holding duties on field goals and extra points for the remainder of the game.
Morton’s first punt came midway through the second quarter with 7:01 remaining in the half, with the quarterback booting a 48-yard kick for a touchback. He followed that up with a 43-yard punt just before the end of the half.
He finished the game with 3 punts for 133 yards (44.3 average, net of 32.0), including a touchback.
Vrabel had been previously asked about why Morton was out there this morning on WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show, but Vrabel downplayed it as just to ‘figure out what we need’ when it came to having an emergency punter.
“This was, this was just being able to figure out what we need,” said Vrabel. “We have got to have [an] emergency snapper, emergency punter, different things like that throughout the season. And felt like that was necessary at the time.”
“Plus, it opens up so many fake possibilities. We could drop back and throw it from 15 yards when he’s back there.”
Baringer’s situation bears watching, as what happens next, if he’s sidelined for an extended period, could affect the rest of the field goal operation due to the fact that Baringer has been Borregales’ regular holder.
As for whether or not Morton would be up for consideration, Vrabel didn’t rule it out.
“Maybe,” said Vrabel, smiling, when asked about the possibility. “His plus 50 has to improve. And then we need some more hang time and not kick it right down the middle. At least they bounced, and then went forward. So that was positive.”
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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.
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