Bryce
Baringer.
Bryce
Baringer.
Michigan St.· 6'2"· 216 lb
"The rare punter whose leg is worth a pick: cut from his own roster in 2019, a consensus All-American by 2022, and the only specialist in this class with a genuinely franchise-length leg."Pre-draft read
A true boomer, Baringer was Michigan State's every-down punter and the operation's tone-setter, working almost exclusively from a two-step pro-style drop with an occasional rugby release to the boundary. The leg is the headline: a violent, whippy swing that produces effortless hang and carry, with the ball coming off the foot cleanly even when protection squeezes.
The secondary trait is compete level in bad conditions. Big Ten November weather never softened his numbers, and he holds up when the snap drifts. He is a plus athlete who also held on placements, and his signature is the 50-plus-yard swing punt that flips a field in one snap rather than the fussy directional pooch.
Any punt scheme, but ideally a directional/plus-50 operation that can harness a max-power leg and needs a holder
Year 1 starting punter and field-goal holder from Week 1; ceiling is a decade-long franchise specialist with Pro Bowl-caliber gross averages
A pure coffin-corner scheme that asks him to shorten his swing on most attempts and grades him on net rather than on flipping fields
The leg is far ahead of the placement game, so coverage speed and gunner quality matter more to his net than his own technique does.
MSU's Bryce Baringer is first punter selected in 2023 NFL Draft
Draft-night segment on the first punter off the board, with Michigan State punting footage.
Bryce Baringer | College Transfer Punter
Charted punting workout showing the drop, swing mechanics and hang time that carried his evaluation.
Bryce Baringer | Class of 2017 Punter/Kicker
Early recruiting-profile reel from the walk-on stage of his path, useful for tracking leg development.
Sixth-year graduate senior with one of the most unusual paths in the class: a preferred walk-on at Illinois who redshirted, transferred to Michigan State, was added only after two punters got hurt, then was cut from the roster entirely before the 2019 season. He punted his way back on, won the job in 2020 and never gave it back. By the end he was a consensus All-American and the highest-graded punting prospect on most boards.
The production is the case. He averaged 43.6 yards on 37 punts in the shortened 2020 season, then broke the Michigan State record at 48.4 on 59 punts in 2021, then topped it with 49.0 on 50 punts in 2022 while earning Big Ten Punter of the Year and first-team All-Big Ten. The flag is the one that follows every big-leg punter: the raw average outran the situational control, and there were snaps where the swing was too much gun for the field position and the return man got a running start.
Boards had him as the clear P1 of the class and the only punter with a real Day 3 draftable grade. Taking a punter at 192 is a philosophical call, not a value one, and New England — a franchise that has always paid for the third phase — treated him as a decade-long fixture rather than a luxury.
- 01
Elite raw leg
the 49.0-yard average as a sixth-year senior was the best mark in Michigan State history, and the ball carries off his foot without any visible extra effort or wind-up.
- 02
Hang time
the swing produces genuine plus hang on flip-the-field punts, giving the gunners a real chance to be there rather than trailing a low line drive.
- 03
Bad-weather reliability
Big Ten November games in East Lansing never eroded his numbers, which is the single hardest thing for a big-leg punter to prove on tape.
- 04
Operation and hands
he was also the holder on placements and handles off-target snaps without disrupting the clock, which is the quiet half of the job.
- 05
Rare toughness of path
cut from the roster and left to punt on his own, he earned a scholarship back and then took every rep for three straight seasons without a competitive threat.
- 01
Directional control lags the leg
plus power did not always come with the ability to place the ball on a sideline, and the returnable percentage was higher than the average suggests.
- 02
Pooch and plus-50 game
the touch punt inside the 20 was the least developed club in the bag, and he sometimes swung too hard when the field was short.
- 03
Late-blooming resume
he was cut in 2019 and did not become a full-time starter until his fourth college year, so the sample of high-level punting is really three seasons.
- 04
Roster cost of the position
spending a pick on a punter narrows the margin for error, and the value only pays out if he holds the job for the better part of a decade.
| Yr | Team | G | Punts | Yds | Avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Michigan State | 4 | 15 | 486 | 32.4 |
| 2020 | Michigan State | 7 | 37 | 1613 | 43.6 |
| 2021 | Michigan State | 13 | 59 | 2857 | 48.4 |
| 2022 | Michigan State | 12 | 50 | 2450 | 49 |
| Career | — | 36 | 161 | 7406 | 46 |
cfbstats verified line by line for 2020 (7 G, 37-1,613, 43.59), 2021 (13 G, 59-2,857, 48.42) and 2022 (12 G, 50-2,450, 49.00). The 2018 line (4 G, 15 punts, 32.4 avg) comes from his documented walk-on emergency duty and reconciles exactly with the career totals; 486 yards is the arithmetic remainder and matches the 32.4 average. Season sums equal the career line: 36 G / 161 punts / 7,406 yards / 46.0. He redshirted at Illinois in 2017 and was off the Michigan State roster for all of 2019, so neither year exists as a season row. Punts inside the 20 are not published per season, so they are null rather than zero.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Honors
- Consensus All-American (2022)
- AP first-team All-America (2022)
- Big Ten Punter of the Year (2022)
- First-team All-Big Ten (2022)
- Second-team All-Big Ten (2021)
- Michigan State single-season punting average record (49.0, 2022)
Big-leg draftable punter who wins the job immediately and posts top-tier gross averages while the net follows the coverage unit.
Ceiling if the situational punting catches up to the leg: a decade-plus starter who becomes a weapon rather than an outcome.
Floor if the directional work never tightens: strong raw numbers, returnable punts, and a job that turns over after one bad year.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Three-year starting punter for the Patriots: 2023 (17 G, 98-4,598, 46.9 gross, 40.8 net, 38 in20, 79 long, PFWA All-Rookie), 2024 (17 G, 70-3,486, 49.8 gross, 41.7 net, 31 in20), 2025 (17 G, 51-2,416, 47.4 gross, 40.6 net, 21 in20). Placed on injured reserve August 31, 2026 after an injury in the preseason finale.
New England slotted him in as the Week 1 punter as a rookie and never looked back. He punted 98 times in 2023 on a team whose offense stalled constantly, averaged 46.9 gross with a 40.8 net and a 79-yard long, dropped 38 inside the 20, and was named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team — a heavy-volume debut that doubled as a stress test. In 2024 the volume dropped to 70 punts and the numbers rose across the board: 49.8 gross, 41.7 net, 31 inside the 20, a 75-yard long. In 2025 the offense improved again and he punted only 51 times for 2,416 yards, a 47.4 gross and a 40.6 net with 21 punts inside the 20, while continuing to hold on placements.
Three seasons in, this is the outcome you draft a punter for: 219 career punts at a 47.9 average, 90 inside the 20, no blocks, and zero games missed until an injury in the 2026 preseason finale against Philadelphia landed him on injured reserve on August 31, with New England signing veteran help behind him. The directional criticism from the evaluation was real early — the 2023 net-to-gross gap of six yards on 44 returns is exactly what the scouting reports warned about — and he tightened it in the two years that followed. As sixth-round picks go, a decade-long specialist who has already made an all-rookie team is a straightforward hit.
Data note: Identity verified by SQL. College line verified against cfbstats 2020-2022 and reconciled with career totals (36 G / 161 punts / 7,406 yards / 46.0). 2017 Illinois redshirt and 2019 (off the roster) are not season rows. No verifiable Combine or pro day testing numbers exist, so all athletic fields were left null rather than zero-filled. NFL production verified against NFL.com and the official Patriots career page.