It's possible that Sunday's Week 18 regular season finale against the New York Jets is the last game of New England Patriots captain Matthew Slater's NFL career.
Slater has been one of the league's best special teams players since he was drafted by the Patriots in 2008. In fact, a lot of people have made the case, including Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, that Slater's special teams performance is worthy of being inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The 16-year veteran hasn't officially announced whether he'll retire in the offseason, but there have been some signs over the last few weeks. The latest came Sunday morning when Patriots players and team employees walked onto the snowy Gillette Stadium field wearing special Slater-themed hoodies.
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Slater is the last remaining player from the Patriots' Super Bowl XLIX victory over the Seattle Seahawks in the 2014 season. The consistency he has shown on special teams for more than a decade has been very impressive.
It'll be interesting to see if the Patriots honor Slater in some kind of fashion during the game, maybe with a video tribute or by running a special play for him, similar to what Belichick did during Doug Flutie's last game in the 2005 season.