I absolutely love doing RPOTW. It's fun to dive into the past and make people say, "Oh yeah, I remember that guy, he was a beast", or "Oh yeah, that guy absolutely stunk". This week's player is a guy who was a staple in multiple defensive backfields during his career. He's a three-time pro bowler and was in the league as recently as 2019. Can you guess who I'm thinking of? Too bad, I'm going to tell you anyway. It's Antoine Bethea.
Bethea was taken in the sixth round of the 2006 NFL draft by the Indianapolis Colts. You rarely see late-round guys have successful careers, but Bethea was one of the outliers. He had a phenomenal start to his career, making a pro bowl and winning a Super Bowl all within the first two seasons. Can't start much better than that. Bethea made two additional pro bowls, one with the Colts in 2009 and one with the San Francisco 49ers in 2014.
One thing I admire about Bethea is his durability. From 2008-2016, he played in and started every game and did it again in 2016, 2018, and 2019. As of right now, he sits at 1,333 total tackles, 25 INTs, and 9 FFs. The 36-year-old is still technically a free agent and with the point totals the way they are now and the lack of good secondary players, why not give Bethea a shot?
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