The captain of the New England Patriots, a do-all who is integral to the team’s goals, was gone. The defense was already missing its two best players since the beginning of training camp.
According to a league source, linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley will likely miss the rest of the campaign due to a torn left pectoral muscle. In Sunday’s overtime loss to the Seattle Seahawks, Bentley suffered the injury.
In 2018, Bentley, at 28 years old, was picked by the Patriots in the fifth round. He has played in seven NFL seasons, all of them. Since then, Bentley has developed into one of the top inside linebackers in the league, with the ability to cover passes, stuff the run, and blitz from the interior. As a leader on the field, he called defensive plays and seldom left the field for the Patriots.
His injury is the most recent setback for the Patriots defense, which is expected to be the team’s strongest suit this year. The team’s top edge rusher, Matthew Judon, was dealt to the Atlanta Falcons after expressing his dissatisfaction with his contract status, while Christian Barmore—possibly the finest player overall—is out indefinitely with blood clots.
The amount of work Bentley put into this team is what makes it so difficult. He called plays for the team. That responsibility now falls on Kyle Dugger, the safety.
Head coach Jerod Mayo, a former linebacker, stated on Monday morning, “I’ve always been a huge believer in a linebacker having the green dot.” “But let me tell you, Dugger definitely filled in for that role yesterday with the way he played overall and his ability to handle communication.”
The harder component to replace is Bentley’s capacity for run-stopping. Thanks in large part to Bentley, who racked up 12 stops in the season’s first game before suffering an injury in Week 2, the Patriots are ranked 10th in terms of rushing projected points added allowed per play.
The Pats have faith in their secondary players. However, their pass rush is among the worst in the league without Barmore and Judon, and their ability to stop the run will be called into doubt without Bentley.
That doesn’t alter because Jahlani Tavai was a starter and played a significant role already. In the immediate term, Raekwon McMillan will get a lot more playing time. Despite being a second-round selection in 2017, he has had trouble staying healthy.
However, expecting him to return in Week 5 could be asking too much given that he hasn’t yet practiced. Accordingly, McMillan is likely to see the largest increase in playing time as the Patriots attempt to make up for the output Bentley’s injury will cause them to miss.
