Jonathan Earl Bostic II (born May 5, 1991) 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 with ...

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, p ...

who is a free agent. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

and was drafted by the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

in the second round of the

2013 NFL Draft The 2013 NFL Draft was the 78th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall in ...

. Bostic has also been a member of the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

, Washington Commanders, and

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

Early life

Bostic was born in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, to John Bostic and Jacqueline Bostic. His father was a defensive back for the

from 1985 to 1987. After his father retired from the NFL, he gained his Doctor of Pharmacy degree and eventually relocated his family to

Wellington, Florida Wellington is a village just west of West Palm Beach in Palm Beach County and north of Miami. As of 2019, the city had a population of 65,398 according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, making it the most populous village in the state. It is the ...

. Bostic attended Palm Beach Central High School in Wellington, where he played for the Palm Beach Central Broncos high school football team.

College career

Bostic accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

, where he played for coach Urban Meyer and coach Will Muschamp's

Florida Gators football The Florida Gators football program represents the University of Florida (UF) in American college football. Florida competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division of ...

teams from

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

. During his college career, he started 32 of 51 games in which he played, recording 237 tackles, 7.5

quarterback sack In gridiron football, a sack occurs when the quarterback (or another offensive player acting as a passer) is tackled behind the line of scrimmage before throwing a forward pass, when the quarterback is tackled behind the line of scrimmage in th ...

s and five

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

s. Following his senior season in 2012, he was a second-team All-

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC) selection. Bostic graduated in 2012 with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in Health, Education and Behavior.

Professional career

Chicago Bears

2013

The

selected Bostic in the second round with the 50th overall pick in the

. Bostic was the seventh linebacker drafted in 2013. On May 9, 2013, the Chicago Bears signed Bostic to a four-year, $3.94 million

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...

that includes a

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

of $1.24 million. Throughout training camp, Bostic competed to be the starting middle linebacker against veteran D.J. Williams. Head coach Marc Trestman named Bostic the backup middle linebacker to begin the regular season, behind D.J. Williams. He made his professional regular season debut in the Chicago Bears' season-opening 24–21 victory against the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

. The following week, Bostic recorded his first career regular season tackle on Cordarrelle Patterson during a 22-yard kick return in the second quarter of a 31–30 win against the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

in Week 2. On October 11, 2013, it was reported that starting middle linebacker D.J. Williams was expected to miss the remainder of the season after tearing his pectoral muscle during the Bears' 26–21 victory against the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

the previous day. Head coach Marc Trestman named Bostic the starter for the remainder of the season. On October 20, 2013, Bostic earned his first career start and recorded eight combined tackles in the Bears' 45–41 loss to the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

in Week 7. In Week 11, he recorded five solo tackles, a pass deflection, and made his first career interception during a 23–20 overtime win against the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...

. He intercepted a pass by quarterback

Joe Flacco Joseph Vincent Flacco (born January 16, 1985) is an American football quarterback for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Delaware after transferring from Pittsburgh and was drafted by the Baltim ...

that was intended for Dallas Clark in the second quarter. In Week 13, Bostic recorded a season-high ten combined tackles (six solo) and two sacks during a 23–20 overtime loss at the

. He made his first career sack on quarterback Matt Cassel for a three-yard loss in overtime. He finished his rookie season with a total of 57 combined tackles (45 solo), two sacks, a pass deflection, and an interception in 16 games and nine starts.

2014

During training camp, Bostic and D.J. Williams competed against each other for the job as the starting middle linebacker. Defensive coordinator

Mel Tucker Melvin Tucker II (born January 4, 1972) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head football coach at Michigan State University, a position he has held since 2020. Previously, Tucker served as the head football coach ...

named Bostic the backup middle linebacker to begin the regular season, behind D.J. Williams. On September 22, 2014, Bostic earned his first start of the season in place of outside linebacker

Shea McClellin Shea Keegan McClellin (born August 1, 1989) is a former American football outside linebacker. He played college football at Boise State Broncos football, Boise State. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears with the 19th overall pick in the 2012 NFL ...

. He recorded a season-high 13 combined tackles (six solo) during a 27–19 win at the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

in Week 3. He started in place of McClellin in the next two games (Weeks 4–5). Bostic sustained a back injury and missed three consecutive games (Weeks 6–8). On November 27, 2014, Bostic started at middle linebacker in place of D.J. Williams who sustained a neck injury the previous week. He made 11 combined tackles (seven solo) in the Bears' 34–17 loss at the

in Week 13. He remained the starting middle linebacker for the last five games of the regular season after D.J. Williams was placed on injured reserve. Bostic finished the season with 84 combined tackles (58 solo) and three pass deflections in 13 games and eight starts. On December 29, 2014, the Chicago Bears fired head coach Mark Trestman and general manager

Phil Emery Philip Allen Emery (born 25 June 1964) is a former Australian cricketer. A wicket-keeper and valuable left-handed batsman, he represented Australia internationally and New South Wales domestically. Born in St Ives, Sydney, Emery was educ ...

after they finished with a 5–11 record.

2015

Bostic missed organized team activities due to a back injury, but recovered in time to attend training camp. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio held a competition between Bostic, Christian Jones, and

Mason Foster Mason Foster (born March 1, 1989) is a former American football linebacker. He was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the third round of the 2011 NFL Draft. He played college football at Washington. He has also been a member of the Chicago ...

for a job as a starting inside linebacker. Head coach John Fox named Bostic the backup inside linebacker to start the regular season, behind Christian Jones, Shea McClellin, and Mason Foster. Bostic was a healthy scratch for the first three regular season games.

New England Patriots

On September 28, 2015, the Chicago Bears traded Bostic to the

in exchange for a sixth-round pick (204th overall) in the

2016 NFL Draft The 2016 NFL Draft was the 81st annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. As in 2015, the draft took place at the Auditorium Theatre and Grant Park in Chicago. The draft beg ...

. Upon arriving to the New England Patriots, head coach Bill Belichick named Bostic the backup strongside linebacker behind Jamie Collins. On December 7, 2015, Bostic earned his first start as a member of the Patriots in place of

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 selec ...

after Hightower sustained a shoulder injury. He recorded one tackle during a 27–6 victory at the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...

in Week 14. He finished the 2015 season with two combined tackles (one solo) in 11 games and one start.

Detroit Lions

On May 9, 2016, the New England Patriots traded Bostic to the

in exchange for a conditional seventh-round draft pick. Throughout training camp, he competed against

Stephen Tulloch Stephen Michael Tulloch (born January 1, 1985) is a former American football linebacker. He was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the fourth round of the 2006 NFL Draft. He played college football at North Carolina State. He was also a member of ...

for the job as the starting middle linebacker. On August 2, 2016, Bostic sustained a leg injury during a joint practice with the

. On September 6, 2016, the Detroit Lions placed Bostic on injured reserve with a foot injury. The Detroit Lions opted to keep him on injured reserve for the entire season.

Indianapolis Colts

On April 20, 2017, the

signed Bostic to a one-year, $690,000 contract. Throughout training camp, he competed for a job as a starting inside linebacker against Edwin Jackson and

Sean Spence Sean Ryan Christopher Spence (born June 7, 1990) is a former American football linebacker. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round of the 2012 NFL Draft. He played college football at the University of Miami, where he was na ...

. Head coach

Chuck Pagano Charles David Pagano (born October 2, 1960) is a former American football coach and player. Pagano spent six seasons in the National Football League (NFL) as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts from 2012 to 2017. He also served as the defensiv ...

named Bostic the starting inside linebacker to begin the 2017 regular season, along with rookie Antonio Morrison. On October 1, 2017, Bostic recorded a season-high 12 combined tackles (five solo) during a 46–18 loss at the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

in Week 4. In Week 8, he collected eight combined tackles and sacked quarterback Andy Dalton during the Colts' 24–23 loss at the

. On December 18, 2017, the Indianapolis Colts placed Bostic on injured reserve after he suffered a knee injury in Week 15. He finished the season with a career-high 97 tackles (57 solo), three pass deflections, and a sack in 14 games and 14 starts. His 97 tackles finished third on the team and 25th among all players in the league. Pro Football Focus gave Bostic an overall grade of 74.9, ranking 38th among all qualified linebackers in 2017.

Pittsburgh Steelers

On March 18, 2018, the

signed Bostic to a two-year, $4 million contract that includes a signing bonus of $2.4 million. He was released from the team on April 27, 2019 following the

2019 NFL Draft The 2019 NFL Draft was the 84th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2019 NFL season. The draft was held on April 25–27 in Nashville, Tennessee. The first round was held on April 2 ...

, in which the Steelers used the 10th overall pick on linebacker Devin Bush Jr.

Washington Redskins / Football Team

Bostic signed with the

on May 22, 2019, after linebacker

Reuben Foster Reuben Foster (born April 4, 1994) is an American football linebacker who is a free agent. A consensus All-American in high school, Foster was regarded as the best linebacker prospect of his class before committing to Alabama, where he played ...

was placed on injured reserve with a torn ACL. He started all 16 games, recording a career-high 105 tackles, one sack, and an interception. On March 30, 2020, Bostic signed a two-year, $5 million contract extension with the Redskins. In Week 7 of the 2020 season against the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

, Bostic was ejected after initiating a helmet to helmet hit on Cowboys' quarterback Andy Dalton, giving him a

concussion A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include loss of consciousness (LOC); memory loss; headaches; difficulty with thinking, concentration, ...

. He was later fined $12,000. In Week 13 against the

, Bostic led the team with 10 tackles and intercepted a pass thrown by former Steelers teammate Ben Roethlisberger during the 23–17 win. Bostic tore a pectoral muscle in a Week 4 game against the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

and was placed on injured reserve on October 5, 2021.

New Orleans Saints

Bostic signed with the

on August 15, 2022. He was released on August 30, 2022.

Washington Commanders

Bostic signed a one-year contract with the Washington Commanders on September 1, 2022. He was placed on injured reserve on December 30, 2022.

References

External links

Florida Gators bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bostic, Jon 1991 births Living people People from Wellington, Florida Players of American football from Florida American football linebackers Florida Gators football players Chicago Bears players New England Patriots players Detroit Lions players Indianapolis Colts players Pittsburgh Steelers players Washington Redskins players Washington Football Team players Washington Commanders players New Orleans Saints players