Week 1: Ja'Whaun Bentley, New England Patriots

New England Patriots linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley, who starred at DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville and was the 2024 DC Touchdown Club Pro Football Player of the Year, has been named the DC Touchdown Club Pro Football Player of the Week after leading the Patriots to a season-opening, 16-10 win over the Cincinnati Bengals this past Sunday.

Bentley, who has led New England in tackles each of the past three seasons (with more than 100 tackles each season), posted a team-high 12 tackles and had half a sack as the Patriots held the Bengals to just one touchdown and 224 yards of total offense.

“It felt great,” said Bentley, who also was the Touchdown Club Maryland High School Player of the Year as a high school senior. “Just watching all that hard work and what we put in throughout the week and throughout the offseason and reaping the benefits.

“Staying true to what we’ve been coached throughout the week. Obviously, Cincinnati has a dynamic group of players all across the board. Nobody even talks about their offensive line. Everybody talks about their skill players but they have a dynamic offensive line. We came into the game and we had our rules that we wanted to get done, certain looks we wanted to show them. We wanted to make it hard on them.”