The New England Patriots have reached an agreement to bring back their special-teams captain Matthew Slater. According to reports, Slater signed a two-year deal while financial terms remained unknown. This puts the 32-year-old on a path to spend his entire football career with the franchise that drafted him in 2008. Slater’s father, Pro Football Hall of Famer Jackie Slater, also played only for the Rams in his NFL career.
It was reported that Matthew Slater visited the Pittsburgh Steelers last week, after becoming a free-agent. Still, Patriots wanted Slater to remain part of the team since he has been one of the team leaders in the past couple of years.
After playing college football at UCLA, Matthew Slater was drafted in the 2008 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots as the 153rd overall pick. He established himself as the important player in the Patriots system and was voted as Special Teams Captain by his teammates in 2011 season. He made his first Pro-Bowl appearance and was named First-team All-Pro in the same year. Slater went on to have six more Pro-Bowl appearances and get three more First-team All-Pro nods. He also won two Super Bowls with the Patriots, Super Bowl XLIX, and LI. His career stats include 134 tackles and 637 return yards.
Matthew Slater also received NFL’s Bart Starr Award in 2017, which is given to the player who “exemplifies character and leadership.”
