Two Patriots players honored with NFL All-Pro selections
Two Patriots players earned AP NFL All-Pro honors for their performances during the 2024 season.
Special-teams ace Brenden Schooler was selected first-team All-Pro, while cornerback Christian Gonzalez earned second-team All-Pro honors.
Two other Patriots players received All-Pro votes: Punt returner Marcus Jones finished third with 12 votes, while long snapper Joe Cardona finished fourth with 11 votes.
Schooler was also named to the Pro Bowl and earned NFLPA first-team All-Pro honors. Gonzalez was one of the top Pro Bowl snubs.
Schooler signed a three-year, $9 million contract extension with the Patriots this season which locks him up through the 2027 season. He finished second among core special-teamers with a 91.1 PFF grade and made nine tackles in the kicking game. He’s a part of the Patriots’ kick return, kick coverage, punt return, punt coverage and field goal block units.
“It was awesome just to feel the love from all those guys,” Schooler said of his Pro Bowl selection earlier this month. “And just feel all the hard work, everything that we put in together. It’s my award, but it’s a testament to those guys. Because without the 10 other guys on the football field, I’m not able to do my job.”
The 27-year-old came to the Patriots as an undrafted rookie in 2022 out of Texas.
Gonzalez, a 2023 first-round pick, regularly covered the opposing team’s best receiver. He finished eighth among qualified cornerbacks with a 78.2 coverage grade. The 22-year-old played his best football in the second half of the season before suffering a concussion in Week 17. He didn’t allow more than 28 years in a game since Week 9. Overall, he allowed 46 catches on 84 targets for 499 yards with two touchdowns, two interceptions and 11 forced incompletions, per PFF’s tracking.
“I know I had a Pro Bowl year. I think a lot of people know I had a Pro Bowl year,” Gonzalez told reporters on Monday. “All-Pro comes out this week. That means more. That’s my main goal. If it happens, it happens.”