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Former NFL player Clayton Weishuhn passed away in a car accident on Friday close to his hometown of Wall, Texas, at the age of 62.
Reports from the Texas Department of Public Safety indicate that, at the time of the accident, Weishuhn was ejected from his vehicle and was not wearing a seatbelt.
Weishuhn was drafted by the New England Patriots in the third-round of the 1982 draft after becoming an All-American linebacker at Angelo State. Weishuhn still holds the team record for most tackles in a season with 229, which was amassed in 1983.
The linebacker was traded away to the Green Bay Packers in 1987 and only played one season with the team. Weishuhn would go on to finish his career with four sacks and four fumble recoveries in 39 games with 26 starts.
Can Mac Jones get the New England Patriots back to the NFL playoffs in 2022?
The 2021 New England Patriots began their season with very low expectations. The team had just come off an abysmal 2020 season that was wrecked by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The team also had to decide who would be the starter going forward at quarterback. The incumbent signal caller was former NFL MVP Cam Newton, who struggled to play the position effectively during the 2020 season.
In the other proverbial corner was rookie quarterback Mac Jones, the star signal caller for Nick Saban's Alabama Crimson Tide. The team chose to release Newton, and they went with Jones as the replacement for seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady, who played with the team for 20 NFL seasons.
Head coach Bill Belichick apparently made the right choice. After starting the season at 2-4, Jones and the Patriots rallied to win eight of the next 11 games. For their efforts, the team went 10-7 and made it to the Wild Card Round of the NFL playoffs.
The team lost 47-17 in that round of the playoffs to Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills. However, the Patriots were still, at least, a year ahead of where they should have been in their first season with a rookie quarterback.
In just one year, Jones was named as a quarterback for the AFC Pro Bowl. He finished the season with 3,801 yards passing, 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.
For the Patriots to return to the playoffs, it will take a vast improvement from last season. With a very crowded AFC, the margin for error is slim to none.
In the offseason, the conference welcomed Russell Wilson (Denver Broncos), Davante Adams (Las Vegas Raiders) and former NFL MVP Matt Ryan (Indianapolis Colts), just to name a few impactful players who will make life tough for opponents.
Stay tuned as fans of the Patriots will look to make even more noise next season in the AFC.
