He may have missed out on All-Pro or Pro Bowl honors for a second straight year in 2025, but Brenden Schooler had another quality campaign as the leader of the New England Patriots’ kicking game operation. He was voted a captain for the first time in his career and helped the club reach the Super Bowl for the first time in his career.
But even after taking those latest steps in his development, the 28-year-old knows that there is always room for more growth — even if that growth is only marginal.
“It’s always just finding that little edge,” Schooler explained this week. “Even if you had the best season of your career, it’s always finding that little edge somewhere. Maybe I could be more limber or flexible, or have better mobility, and that’s not even talking being on the football field. It’s just trying to find that little edge you can gain after a long, hard season.”
Since entering the NFL in 2022, Schooler has managed to make gains every season.
An undrafted free agent whose college career had taken him to Oregon, Arizona and Texas, as well as all three phases of the game, he started out as Matthew Slater’s understudy. From there, he found his way onto the 53-man roster and all four of the core special teams groupings.
He has remained in that position ever since and following Slater’s retirement in 2024 picked up the baton. Schooler now is the Patriots’ special teams equivalent of quarterback Drake Maye: the undisputed leader on his side of the ball.
Even as such, and with four seasons and 70 career games under his belt, he knows that improvement remains paramount for the sake of himself and his team as a whole.
“It’s always interesting when you reflect after a season to see what you think you did really well and what you think you didn’t do very well,” he explained. “The film’s never as bad as you think or is never as good as you think. Having those conversations with your coaches after the season, they can point you in a direction where they think you need to work on certain things, or certain techniques, or get stronger here, faster here.
“It’s just trying to be the most well-rounded athlete you can be when you’re stepping onto the field not only for yourself but for 10 other guys that you’re playing for and playing with on the field.”
