James Ferentz (born June 5, 1989) 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 ...

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

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 was signed by the Houston Texans as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2014. He played college football at

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

. He has also played for the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...

High school career

Ferentz played football at

Iowa City High School Iowa City High School is a public high school in Iowa City, Iowa and is part of the Iowa City Community School District. The present high school was completed as part of the Public Works Projects started by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to pro ...

Iowa City, Iowa Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the tim ...

. He also wrestled earning second place at the Iowa high school wrestling tournament his senior year.

College career

Ferentz attended and played college football at Iowa from 2008–2012. He was named second-team All-Big Ten while at the University of Iowa.

Professional career

Houston Texans

Ferentz was signed by the Houston Texans on May 16, 2014. He was waived by the Texans on August 30, 2014 and was signed to the practice squad the next day. He signed a reserve/futures contract with the Texans on December 30, 2014. On September 5, 2015, Ferentz was waived by the Texans.

Denver Broncos

On September 6, 2015, the

claimed Ferentz off waivers. In the 2015 regular season, he played in 13 games. On February 7, 2016, Ferentz was part of the Broncos team that won

Super Bowl 50 Super Bowl 50 was an American football game to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2015 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos defeated the National Football Conference (NFC) cha ...

. In the game, the Broncos defeated the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. ...

by a score of 24–10. In the 2016 season, he appeared in six games for the Broncos. On May 10, 2017, Ferentz was released by the Broncos.

New England Patriots

On May 18, 2017, Ferentz signed with the New England Patriots. He was waived on September 2, 2017 and signed to the practice squad the next day. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Patriots on February 6, 2018. On September 1, 2018, Ferentz was waived by the Patriots and was signed to the practice squad the next day. Ferentz was promoted to the Patriots' active roster on November 3, 2018. Ferentz won his second Super Bowl when the Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Rams 13-3 in Super Bowl LIII. On August 31, 2019, Ferentz was released during final roster cuts. He was re-signed on September 6, 2019 with the release of

Russell Bodine Russell Bodine (born June 30, 1992) is an American football center who is a free agent. He was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He played college football at North Carolina. High school career A nat ...

. On September 16, 2020, Ferentz was signed to the Patriots practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster on September 26, 2020. He was placed on the reserve/

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

list by the team on October 16 and activated on October 28. On May 17, 2021, Ferentz re-signed with the Patriots. On August 31, Ferentz was waived and signed to the practice squad the following day. He was signed to the active roster on October 27. He was released on November 8, 2021 and re-signed to the practice squad. On March 14, 2022, Ferentz re-signed with the Patriots. He was released on August 30, 2022 and signed to the practice squad the next day. He was promoted to the active roster on September 6. On March 9, 2023, Ferentz re-signed with the Patriots.

Personal life

James Ferentz is the son of Mary and

Kirk Ferentz Kirk James Ferentz (born August 1, 1955) is an American football coach. He is the current head football coach at the University of Iowa, a position he has held since the 1999 season. From 1990 to 1992, Ferentz was the head football coach at the ...

, the Iowa Hawkeyes head coach. He is brother to noted football player, Brian Ferentz.

References

External links

Patriots bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferentz, James 1989 births Living people American football centers American people of Hungarian descent Denver Broncos players Houston Texans players Iowa City High School alumni Iowa Hawkeyes football players New England Patriots players Players of American football from Iowa Sportspeople from Iowa City, Iowa