Bill Belichick Glad New England Patriots Have A ‘Second Time Around’ With Linebacker Jahlani Tavai

In between the 2019 NFL draft selections of wide receiver N’Keal Harry and cornerback Joejuan Williams, a linebacker that the New England Patriots had grown familiar with went to a familiar face.

Matt Patricia and the Detroit Lions turned the card in for Hawaii product Jahlani Tavai in the second round at No. 43 overall that April.

Much has changed since then. Both are in Foxborough now. And if the board unfolded differently, it’s where the latter possibly could have been all along.

“Yeah, I worked him out at UCLA,” Patriots head coach Bill Belichick recalled of the 26-year-old Tavai during his Friday press conference. “We spent a day out there together at UCLA and Matt drafted him in the second round. We didn’t really get a shot at him, but we always get our man. Not always, usually sometimes. Sometimes we get our man the second time around.”

Tavai went on to appear in 31 games as a member of the Lions, starting 16. His stay brought 116 tackles, two sacks, three forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, one interception and a stop on injured reserve.

Waived halfway through his four-year, $6.893 million rookie contract in the summer of 2021, Tavai passed through the league wire unclaimed. The 6-foot-2, 250-pound former All-Mountain West selection signed to the New England practice squad from there. Doing so reunited him with the head coach that Detroit also moved on from, who now holds the titles of senior football advisor and offensive line coach where he was previously defensive coordinator.

A promotion to the Patriots’ 53-man roster followed early on last regular season for Tavai. It did on a two-year deal that saw him play in 13 games while ranking eighth in snaps played on special teams.

Coverage limitations and indirect angles were seen by a prospect who once ran the 40-yard dash in 4.86 seconds at his pro day. But Tavai outlasted the preseason bubble despite not being the modern prototype at the position. Scheme-flexible size and playing strength played parts in why. Off the edges and off the ball, he has gone on to appear in all six games this campaign, recording his first sack since his rookie campaign to go with 22 tackles.

Tavai has logged 75%, 79% and 63% of the defensive downs, respectively, since the calendar turned to October. New England’s last two wins, including a 29-0 shutout against the Lions, were both starts for No. 48.

“Well, I think Jahlani has a few things going for him,” Belichick told reporters. “One, he’s a pretty smart kid, and he’s played both inside and outside in college and then with Matt in Detroit. So when we got him last year, he had a lot of familiarity with our system, a lot of techniques and things that we did and so forth. But just overall, he kind of has that skillset that he can play on the end of the line, play off the line, has some pass-rush ability, plays on all four phases of the kicking game.”

The Patriots made a total of ten picks in the 2019 draft. Only four of whom remain with the organization. Running back Damien Harris, a starter in a contract year, and punter Jake Bailey, a 2020 first-team All-Pro who signed a four-year, $13.5 million extension in August, currently reside on the active roster. Undrafted receiving leader Jakobi Meyers also does after being tendered at the second-round restricted level of $3.986 million last spring.

Tavai can be viewed as an add-on to what’s left from that class. His cap number of $1.143 million ranks 33rd on the team, according to OverTheCap.com, while his Pro Football Focus grade of 65.0 ranks 11th on the defense. The downhill linebacker has yet to miss a tackle this fall.

“He’s a pretty versatile player and can plug in to a lot of different spots, which is helpful because not everybody can do that or has to be able to do that,” said Belichick. “But somebody has to be able to do it, so he kind of fits that.”