There was plenty of shock following the report that New England Patriots linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley is out for the rest of the 2024 season with a torn pectoral muscle.
On Monday, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported Bentley’s injury was “worse than publicly known.” Not long after the news, the Patriots’ team captain posted a reel of himself giving his teammates a pre-game speech and an image with four words captioned on Instagram: “God don’t make mistakes.”
The Patriots are now without three of their top defensive players, including Matthew Judon, Christian Barmore and Bentley. Injuries were an issue last season as well, and the unit proved to be resilient enough to overcome missing key players.
Can they do it again this season?
There are no simple ways of replacing a player like Bentley, who was the defensive signal-caller for the Patriots. It’ll take a herculean effort from the entire defensive unit to overcome the personnel losses the team has faced this season.
Here are some of the Twitter reactions to the crushing news of Bentley’s season-ending injury: