Tag: Jake Bailey

Ex-Patriot Jake Bailey shares insight on struggles with team

Punter Jake Bailey gave a reason for his 2022 struggles with the Patriots.

Miami Dolphins punter Jake Bailey has a reason for his struggles with the New England Patriots last season.

He recently spoke with media members, as he gets set to start a new chapter in his NFL career. It’s a fresh start of sorts for Bailey, who was released by the Patriots. Poor performance and a team suspension closed the book on his time in New England.

When speaking about the situation with the Patriots, Bailey revealed one particular reason for his poor performance last season.

“A lot of it had to do with squatting a ton,” said Bailey, per Omar Kelly. “I didn’t grow up loading my back with back squats….I tried to start something new and be part of the program and it backfired the whole season. Haven’t squatted since week 15 and feel pretty good.”

Bailey will look to bounce back for Miami, as the Dolphins try to keep pace with the Buffalo Bills in the AFC East. Maybe a change of scenery will do him some good.

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Punter that filed grievance against Patriots signs with division rival

Former Patriots punter Jake Bailey, who filed a grievance against New England back in January, is joining the Dolphins.

The Miami Dolphins signed former New England Patriots punter Jake Bailey on Friday. The terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Bailey was released by the Patriots on March 10, in what began a wave of moves for the organization. Bailey had a difficult season with New England in 2022. He recorded a 41.2-yard average and 33.5-yard net average with his punts, which both sit at the bottom of NFL rankings.

New England placed him on injured reserve December 21, and he was put on the suspended list for the remaining two games of the season. He has since filed a grievance with the Patriots.

Bailey was most recently an All-Pro punter in 2020 after tallying a 45.6 net punting average.

It has been a busy couple of days for the AFC East in terms of moves. One has to wonder if a change of scenery will help Bailey, as he looks to resurrect his career.

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Dolphins sign punter Jake Bailey

That was quick.

Just minutes after punter Thomas Morstead announced that he wouldn’t be returning for another season in aqua and orange, the Miami Dolphins signed a new player to replace him.

The team announced that they’ve signed former New England Patriots punter Jake Bailey after a visit on Friday, but the terms of the deal are undisclosed at the time of signing.

Bailey, 25, had spent his entire professional career with the Patriots before suffering a back injury this past year that cut his season short. Throughout the year, he was having one of his worst seasons.

This is Miami’s fourth punter in four years, but Bailey is young enough to potentially be the one to stick around for a while.

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Free agent punter Jake Bailey visiting Dolphins

Thomas Morstead is still available to be signed.

The Miami Dolphins have filled a lot of their holes through the first few days of the new league year, but they haven’t filled all of them.

At this point, Miami still doesn’t have a punter for the 2023 season, but they have one coming in for a visit. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, former New England Patriots punter Jake Bailey is meeting with the Dolphins on Friday.

Bailey, 25, was released by the Patriots this offseason after the worst statistical season of his career in 2022, which also included a trip to injured reserve for a back injury and a suspension by the team. The punter’s agent filed a grievance against the team at the end of the year.

Interestingly, Miami got a great year of punting from Thomas Morstead, who remains a free agent, but his age may be holding the team back from committing to him for another year or more.

It will be intriguing to see if the visit leads to an eventual signing, or if the Dolphins are just checking out their options before going back to Morstead.

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Jake Bailey gets released two months after filing grievance against Patriots

The Patriots have released punter Jake Bailey.

The New England Patriots released punter Jake Bailey on Friday. This move was first reported by the team.

Bailey began his career with the Patriots in 2019, when he was named the team’s starting punter. He was selected by the Patriots in that year’s draft in the fifth round.

Bailey was named an All-Pro in 2020, after averaging 48.7 gross yards per punt. He booted 31 punts inside the 20-yard line. He was officially named to the 2020 Associated Press All-Pro First-Team in January 2021. This was the first time a Patriots punter had been given this honor.

New England recently signed him to a four-year $13.5 million contract extension on August 1, 2022. Injuries nagged him throughout the course of the season, and he was officially placed on injured reserve.

It was revealed in January that he was placed on injured reserve/suspension, and he ultimately filed a grievance against the team.

It has been a surprising day of moves for New England, starting with the retirement of Devin McCourty. Bailey’s release marks another changing of the guard at a key position.

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10 free agent fits that make sense for Patriots

10 free agent fits for the Patriots heading into the offseason.

The New England Patriots enter 2023 with some glaring holes on the roster after missing the playoffs for the second time in three seasons. As of today, per Miguel Benzan (PatsCap), the Patriots have $34,067,070 in cap space.

The team could create more cap space by structuring contracts to fit, if needed. Before any signings get announced, let’s look at the players who could fit the mold in New England.

The Patriots may not spend as heavy as 2021, and certainly wont sign all of the top free agents. But what free agents fit well enough with the team to prompt a move in 2023?

Here are 10 players that could be future Patriots.

Punter Jake Bailey files grievance against Patriots for suspension, per agent

Jake Bailey’s agent, Doug Hendrickson, says punter has filed a grievance against the Patriots.

New England Patriots punter Jake Bailey has filed a grievance against the team for putting him on the reserve/suspension list, according to his agent, Doug Hendrickson.

This comes five months after the Patriots made Bailey one of the top-three highest-paid punters in the NFL. He had been dealing with a back injury that initially had him on injured reserve, but he missed the return window.

It was then revealed on Friday that Bailey, along with rookie cornerback Jack Jones, were both put on the reserve/suspension list on December 31. Players on that list don’t count against the roster limit, but they also forfeit game checks. Not only would Bailey’s last two game checks be in jeopardy, but the move could also void the guaranteed $6.5 million on his contract.

It’s a huge issue.

Doug Hendrickson, Bailey’s agent, released a statement on Saturday, via Mike Reiss, claiming the punter had filed a grievance against the Patriots.

“While Jake Bailey was on IR he never missed a single treatment, meeting, or practice,” Hendrickson’s statement read. “He was hoping to come off IR to play last weekend, but Jake was informed he was being suspended these last two games. This comes as a surprise given his full participation during injury reserve. We have filed a grievance to fight this unknown suspension.”

Bailey has struggled this season, along with current Patriots starter Michael Palardy, but it doesn’t look like he’s willing to go down without a fight. This obviously isn’t the sort of drama the Patriots need hanging overhead before Sunday’s season finale against a motivated Buffalo Bills team.

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More details emerge on rising Patriots rookie Jack Jones going on reserve/suspended list

Why was Jack Jones put on the reserve/suspended list? Here’s what we know so far.

The New England Patriots have reportedly put rookie cornerback Jack Jones and veteran punter Jake Bailey on the reserve/suspension list.

Any player on the reserve/suspension list doesn’t count towards the roster limit, and they also forfeit being paid their base salary. Since the Patriots have marked the move for December 31, both Jones and Bailey could miss out on the final two game checks of the season.

According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, Jones’ suspension is believed to be related to “missing multiple rehabilitation appointments” for a knee injury. Jones’ agent, Jamal Tooson, put out a statement pertaining to his client on Thursday, via Reiss.

The statement read:

“Jack is focused on recovering and getting back to help the Patriots as soon as possible. Regarding the suspension, it appears to be based on miscommunication regarding Jack’s rehab process. I’m hopeful we’ll reach an amicable resolution for both Jack and the Patriots.”

As far as Bailey’s situation is concerned, the issue reportedly stems from “differing viewpoints” on when he was ready to return from his lingering back injury.

Being on the reserve/suspension list could potentially void the $6.5 million in guaranteed money on his contract. Bailey is coming off the worst season of his NFL career, while Jones showed promise as a future star in the Patriots’ defensive backfield.

It’s clearly not the way either expected their 2022 season to end.

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Does this stat prove Patriots have the worst punters in NFL?

Do the Patriots have the worst punters?

Yes, the punting has been atrocious for the New England Patriots this season. But has it been the worst in the NFL?

A recent statistic from Puntalytics suggests that might be the case.

Both of the Patriots’ punters, Jake Bailey and Michael Palardy, are ranked dead last in punter EPA for 2022. Granted, no one needed an advanced statistic to know just how horrendous the punting has been this season. A simple eye test has been enough to make diehard Patriots fans bang their heads against the wall.

Yet, in a graph that featured NFL punters with at least 17 punts this season, both Bailey and Palardy ranked dead last in the league.

Ouch.

Bailey’s season officially ended on Friday after missing his return window from injured reserve. He has been hampered with a back injury throughout most of the season, which resulted in the team turning to Palardy.

Granted, Bailey had already been struggling up until the point of his exit. So the hope was that Palardy could step in and give the team a noticeable boost at the position, but that clearly hasn’t happened.

To make matters worse, the Patriots made Bailey one of the league’s top-three highest-paid punters back in August. So seeing him ranked second-to-last behind Palardy in this statistic is disappointing, to say the least.

Of course, one bad season shouldn’t close the book on Bailey’s journey in New England. There’s still hope he comes back healthier and turns things around in 2023. The Patriots would have never forked over a four-year, $13.5 million contract and a fifth-round draft pick if they didn’t believe in his talent.

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Jake Bailey’s ugly season ends five months after becoming one of highest-paid punters

Jake Bailey’s season is officially over for the Patriots.

Jake Bailey is officially done for the season.

The New England Patriots punter’s highly-disappointing season went off a cliff and officially hit rock bottom ahead of the regular season finale on Sunday against the Buffalo Bills.

Bailey had been working his through a back injury that has kept him out since the Patriots’ Week 9 meeting with the Indianapolis Colts.

There was hope that he’d be able to return and change the narrative in the second half of the season, but according to coach Bill Belichick on Friday, the 25-year-old special-teamer is reverting back to injured reserve after missing the window for a return.

Back in August, the Patriots made Bailey one of the top-three highest-paid punters in the league with a four-year, $13.5 million deal. There was an effort to lock him down to a multiple-year deal in hopes of solidifying his talent at the position for the foreseeable future.

What followed was Bailey’s worst NFL season.

With an entire offseason to recover and bounce back, the Patriots can only hope they get the version of the player they thought high enough of to spend a fifth-round pick on in 2019.

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