Patriots Captain Sent This Clear Message To Team Before Training Camp

FOXBORO, Mass. — Matthew Slater has been with the Patriots since the George W. Bush administration. He’s a universally respected leader in New England’s locker room. When he speaks, teammates listen.

But when the Patriots reconvened Tuesday ahead of their first training camp practice, the motivational message they heard didn’t come from Slater. It came from another, younger team captain: linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley.

“I think Ja’Whaun said it best today as he talked to the guys: Whatever happened in the past, whatever happened in the spring, it doesn’t matter,” Slater said Tuesday at Gillette Stadium. “We’re here now, we have a goal in our mind, and we have to work and sacrifice to get towards that goal, which I thought was very well said by him.”

That Bentley was the one delivering that message illustrates how his standing within the Patriots’ leadership group has expanded in recent years. With former captains like Dont’a Hightower and Devin McCourty now retired, the 26-year-old is the most prominent voice in a defense that could be one of the NFL’s best this season.

Bentley surely will be voted a team captain for the third time in his Patriots tenure later this summer, with players like Slater, center David Andrews, quarterback Mac Jones and defensive end Deatrich Wise likely joining him. Bentley also was a three-year collegiate captain at Purdue, meaning he’s served in that role for six of the last nine seasons.

“He improves very steadily and consistently,” head coach Bill Belichick said of Bentley, who signed a new two-year contract extension last month. “… On and off the field, he’s a great worker, a leader, a very positive voice, communicator on defense and a good football player.”

Belichick added that Bentley’s on-field responsibilities have increased following the loss of McCourty, who wore the green dot as New England’s primary defensive communicator.

“(Bentley is) a signal-caller, obviously taking a bigger role in the communication defensively without Devin,” Belichick said. “He did that anyway, but he’s stepped that up even a little bit more. Somebody has to be the decision-maker defensively, so now it’s fallen a little bit more to him in certain situations.”

Bentley downplayed that change.

“I wouldn’t blow it out of proportion too much,” the sixth-year pro said. “I’ve been communicating a lot, especially with the front seven. But as far as having the mic (in my helmet), I’ve worn the mic every now and then the past few years, too, so it’s not foreign territory.”

As for his message to the locker room, Bentley reiterated the importance of not dwelling on the past — which, for the Patriots, includes zero playoff victories since Bentley’s rookie season in 2018 — or looking too far ahead.

“It’s huge, because none of that stuff matters,” Bentley said. “You’ve got to focus on what matters at the moment. Obviously, there’s going to be a lot of stuff going on — speaking on the past, speaking on the future — but none of that matters. You’ve just got to be where your feet are, and that’s pretty much my message at all times.”

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