Ja'Whaun Louis Bentley (born August 24, 1996) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

for the New England Patriots of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played college football at Purdue. He was drafted by the Patriots in the fifth round of the 2018 NFL Draft.

College career

Bentley started all four years at Purdue, from 2014 to 2017. He had 97 tackles including 11.5 for loss in 2017. Bentley was named as an honorable mention for the 2017 All-Big Ten Conference team. He was the defensive MVP of the

2017 Foster Farms Bowl The 2017 Foster Farms Bowl was an American college football bowl game played on December 27, 2017, at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California. It was one of the 2017–18 bowl games concluding the 2017 FBS football season. The 16th edition of t ...

Professional career

New England Patriots

Bentley was drafted by the New England Patriots in the fifth round (143rd overall) of the 2018 NFL Draft. In the team's second preseason game, Bentley recovered a fumble forced by

Adrian Clayborn Adrian Jarrell Clayborn (born July 6, 1988) is a former American football defensive end. He played college football for the University of Iowa, and earned consensus All-American honors. He was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first r ...

and returned it 54 yards for the touchdown. His strong play in the preseason earned Bentley a starting linebacker role alongside veterans

Dont'a Hightower Qualin Dont'a Hightower (born March 12, 1990) is an American football linebacker who is a free agent. He played college football at Alabama, receiving consensus All-American honors and winning two BCS National Championships. Hightower was sel ...

and

Kyle Van Noy Kyle Van Noy (born March 26, 1991) is an American football linebacker for the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). Van Noy played college football at BYU was selected in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft by the Detro ...

. In Week 3 against the Detroit Lions, Bentley recorded his first career interception on a pass from

Matthew Stafford John Matthew Stafford (born February 7, 1988) is an American football quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Georgia, where he was a first-team All-American, and was selected ...

that was intended for Luke Willson. On September 26, 2018, Bentley was placed on injured reserve, due to a torn bicep. Without Bentley, the Patriots reached Super Bowl LIII, where they defeated the Los Angeles Rams 13–3. Bentley returned to health in 2019, but with Dont’a Hightower, Jamie Collins, and Kyle Van Noy already in place, Bentley didn’t re-emerge as a key part of the Patriots’ defense. However, the 2020 season saw Bentley take over as the team’s top linebacker, as Hightower opted out of the season due to COVID-19, and Collins and Van Noy departed in free agency. In Week 8, against the Buffalo Bills, Bentley recorded his first full sack of his career on

Josh Allen Josh or Joshua Allen may refer to: * Josh Allen (offensive lineman) (born 1991), former American football player * Josh Allen (quarterback) (born 1996), American football quarterback in the NFL for the Buffalo Bills since 2018 * Josh Allen (defensi ...

during the 24–21 loss. On March 21, 2022, Bentley signed a two-year, $6 million contract extension with the Patriots. He started all 17 games in 2022, recording a career-high and team-leading 125 tackles, along with three sacks, two passes defensed, and an interception.

References

1996 births Living people American football linebackers New England Patriots players Sportspeople from Prince George's County, Maryland Players of American football from Maryland Purdue Boilermakers football players {{linebacker-1990s-stub