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 wit ...

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, pl ...

for 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 ...

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 ma ...

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

2018 NFL Draft The 2018 NFL Draft was the 83rd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2018 NFL season. The draft was held on April 26–28 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas; it was the first dra ...

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.

Professional career

New England Patriots

Bentley was drafted by the

in the fifth round (143rd overall) of the

. In the team's second preseason game, Bentley recovered a fumble forced by Adrian Clayborn 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 and Kyle Van Noy. In Week 3 against the

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 For ...

, 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 The biceps or biceps brachii ( la, musculus biceps brachii, "two-headed muscle of the arm") is a large muscle that lies on the front of the upper arm between the shoulder and the elbow. Both heads of the muscle arise on the scapula and join t ...

. Without Bentley, the Patriots reached

Super Bowl LIII Super Bowl LIII was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2018 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots defeated the National Football Con ...

, where they defeated the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC Wes ...

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

, Bentley recorded his first full sack of his career on Josh Allen 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