Image courtesy of the Los Angeles Rams

Jerod Mayo’s still got some work to do filling out his first staff as head coach of the Patriots, but he took another step in finishing the process on Tuesday.

The Cam Accord reign of terror is over, as Jeremy Springer is set to take over the special teams coordinating duties as first reported by Ian Rapoport.

Springer spent the last two seasons in LA coaching with the Rams under Sean McVay. Before that, Springer gained a wealth of knowledge with four different college coaching stops spanning eight years. Springer was with UTEP, Texas A&M, Marshall and Arizona after playing linebacker at UTEP from 2007-2011.

A Los Fresnos, Texas native, Springer has a pretty low bar coming in given how much of a spike the usually respectable special teams unit took the last several seasons. That might be a good thing, especially since the Rams statistically speaking had one of the worst special teams seasons in the last 42 years. However, Springer was only working under special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn, so the extremely poor performance wasn’t completely on him. Los Angeles particularly struggled with making kicks and punt coverage.

Springer does have ST coordinating experience, running things when he was in Arizona from 2018-2020. He’s also only 34. It’s a new wave of young faces both in Foxborough and across the league and qhether it’s special teams, water boys, media personnel or players, the Patriots need all the new ideas they can get, so bringing in anyone who’s been around the McVay program will almost certainly be an upgrade.

Mayo’s OC decision is still the biggest one he’ll make this season and special teams is usually the last thing on most fans’ minds, but this was an important hire that (hopefully) works out. For now, it’s good to see another outside-the-family guy coming into an organization that desperately needs a breath of fresh air in almost every meeting room.