One day after locking up Devin McCourty for the 2022 season, the New England Patriots reportedly are preparing to do the same with another longtime team captain.
Standout special teamer Matthew Slater is expected to sign a fully guaranteed one-year, $2.62 million contract that will keep him in New England for a 15th season, according to a report Monday from ESPN's Field Yates.
Slater, who turns 37 in September, has spent his entire career with the Patriots, who drafted him in the fifth round in 2008. Over the last decade-and-a-half, he's established himself as one of the greatest special teams players in NFL history, making 10 of the last 11 Pro Bowls and compiling a Hall of Fame-worthy résumé.
A three-time Super Bowl winner and 11-time team captain, Slater also has been one of New England's most important locker room leaders, helping bridge the gap from the heyday of the Tom Brady years to the current, Mac Jones-led era.
"He's one of the best public speakers I've ever been around," Jones said of Slater in December. "So just taking notes there, and obviously he backs up everything he says with his work ethic and the type of person he is. He's the model Patriot and someone that I look up to, and a lot of guys on our team do that as younger players -- and even the older guys."
The focus of New England's early free agency approach seems to have been retaining its long-tenured leaders. The Patriots re-signed McCourty on Sunday, then did the same with backup quarterback Brian Hoyer on Monday, hours before the start of the NFL's legal tampering period.
There's been no word yet on whether linebacker Dont'a Hightower and running back James White -- both captains for the last several years and impending free agents -- will be back for 2022.
The Patriots also lost their first internal free agent Monday, with starting left guard Ted Karras reportedly agreeing to terms on a three-year, $18 million deal with the defending AFC champion Cincinnati Bengals. Karras cannot officially sign until the new league year begins Wednesday afternoon.
