Patriots’ Bryce Baringer exits preseason game, forcing unusual punt plan

New England’s preseason plan for its punting position hit an immediate snag when Bryce Baringer left Saturday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles after punting twice. With the Patriots needing to keep punts in rotation as the game continued, the team turned to an unexpected option, using backup quarterback Behren Morton to punt for the remainder of the contest.

The episode matters beyond one game because punting is one of the few roster roles that cannot be lightly improvised. Field position is tied to hang time, placement, coverage timing, and the reliability of a specialist under different game situations. In preseason, coaches balance evaluation with avoiding controllable mistakes, and a sudden change like this compresses the number of reps available to the regular punter and the unit around him.

Baringer’s exit also appears to create an urgency for the Patriots’ next move at the position. Yahoo Sports reported that the injury would likely lead New England to add a punter “in the near future,” framing it as the most straightforward way to restore the normal weekly rhythm and reduce risk heading toward the regular season.

Morton’s appearance as a punter underscores how thin staffing at a specialized position can become when health changes without warning. Quarterbacks can punt in emergency situations, but the skill set is not the same as that of a long-practiced punting specialist. Even when an emergency punt works, it can alter protection schemes and the way coverage groups time their sprint and angles.

For Patriots fans and roster watchers, the key question now is what the punt job looks like over the next stretch of preseason work. A planned addition would typically bring immediate competition and allow the coaching staff to evaluate how quickly a new punter can integrate with the unit. If Baringer is sidelined longer than expected, New England could be forced to weigh continuity versus short-term stability as it narrows the final roster.

There is also a broader roster-management implication for the team’s depth chart. Using Morton in a punting role indicates that the Patriots were not comfortable leaving the punting duties uncovered. That may increase pressure to finalize not only a specialist punter, but also to ensure the backup options behind the quarterback and other special-teams roles remain functional.

What to watch next is whether New England makes an immediate roster move after the preseason matchup and how the punting reps are distributed in subsequent practices or games. Even without public details on the severity of Baringer’s injury, the reported expectation that the Patriots will add a punter suggests the team views the situation as more than a one-off workaround.

Until an official injury update or transaction is confirmed, the safest takeaway is that a specialist’s availability shifted quickly during live preseason action, and New England responded by improvising with Morton. The next news item to track is the Patriots’ roster decision at punter and who receives the primary reps as the regular season approaches.