{"id":14980,"date":"2017-03-15T13:30:15","date_gmt":"2017-03-15T17:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/?p=14980"},"modified":"2017-03-15T14:02:07","modified_gmt":"2017-03-15T18:02:07","slug":"donta-hightower-signs-patriots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2017\/03\/15\/donta-hightower-signs-patriots\/","title":{"rendered":"Dont&#8217;a Hightower Re-Signs With the New England Patriots"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Linebacker <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/H\/HighDo01.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dont&#8217;a Hightower<\/a><\/strong> is staying in Foxborough. Hightower has agreed to\u00a0a contract that\u00a0will\u00a0see him remain with\u00a0the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots for years to come. The deal is for four years, and $43.5 million, with $19 million guaranteed, according to ESPN&#8217;s Adam Schefter.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Dont&#39;a Hightower is returning to the New England Patriots, sources tell ESPN. New England&#39;s off-season rolls on.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AdamSchefter\/status\/842065609911336960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 15, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Patriots are giving LB Dont&#39;a Hightower a 4-year, $43.5M deal that includes $19M guaranteed, per <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/_SportsTrust?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@_sportstrust<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AdamSchefter\/status\/842068017253089280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 15, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Dont&#8217;a Hightower Re-Signs With the New England Patriots<\/h2>\n<p>Hightower was drafted 25th overall by New England in the 2012 NFL Draft, after the team acquired the pick from the Denver Broncos in exchange for a first-round (31st) and a fourth-round (126th) selection. As a rookie, Hightower appeared in 14 games, recording 60 combined tackles and four sacks alongside veteran linebacker <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/M\/MayoJe99.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jerod Mayo<\/a><\/strong>. When Mayo&#8217;s role decreased due to injury the next season, Hightower had a breakout year with 97 combined tackles. He posted 89 combined tackles the following season to go with a career-high six sacks, and became the leader of the defense when Mayo went down once again. Later that year, his shoelace tackle of Seahawks running back <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/L\/LyncMa00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Marshawn Lynch<\/a><\/strong> on the goal line in Super Bowl XLIX inscribed him in Super Bowl lore.<\/p>\n<p>Since missing four games during the 2014 season, Hightower has been slightly plagued by the injury bug. He was limited to 12 appearances and a career-low 61 tackles in 2015, and missed three more regular season games during the 2016 season.<\/p>\n<p>Injuries are a concern, but Hightower&#8217;s talent is unmistakable. He once again wrote his name in the history books in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl 51 when, on a third-and-1 with 8:25 to go and Atlanta up 28-12, he strip-sacked <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/R\/RyanMa00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matt Ryan<\/a><\/strong> at the Falcons&#8217; 25-yard line to set up part of what would go down as the largest comeback in the Big Game&#8217;s storied history.<\/p>\n<p>Hightower made\u00a0his first Pro Bowl after this past season and was named a second-team All-Pro. His youth, talent and track record made him one of the most sought after free agents in this year&#8217;s group.<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/633957062\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 66.666667% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"margin: 0px; left: 0px; top: 0px; width: 100%; height: 100%; display: inline-block; position: absolute;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/633957062?et=tLqBb81aSXdxsHQp1zJALw&amp;viewMoreLink=on&amp;sig=7Be9ks_ObrfitLZ9zlUX-cOlSs-yvtIeUged7vam6G8=&amp;caption=true\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"margin: 0;\">\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Linebacker Dont&#8217;a Hightower spent his first five seasons with the New England Patriots, winning two Super Bowls and earning one Pro Bowl berth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":566,"featured_media":15065,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,2,5],"tags":[1661,61,38,40],"class_list":["post-14980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-news","category-featured","category-patriots","tag-donta-hightower","tag-football","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-nfl"],"modified_by":"John Bava","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/566"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}