Patriots Veterans Excited To Face Former Team In Wild Card

For New England Patriots tight end Hunter Henry and safety Jaylinn Hawkins, their 2025 postseason will begin with a home matchup against their former team.

The Los Angeles Chargers are coming to town for the AFC Wild Card next week, and those two players are excited.

Maybe not so much for revenge for their tenures in a Chargers uniform, but how the game last season went (the Patriots were dismantled 40-7 last December).

“We are a very, very different team from a year ago,” Henry said postgame following the Patriots’ 38-10 win over the Miami Dolphins in Week 18. “We are a very close team and come together. Have obviously had a great year but now it kind of starts over. We kind of got to start a new season. We are going to attack it that way and be ready to go this week because they will be ready to go. They have a lot of good players over there, obviously I know a few of them and they will be a big challenge."

Henry, Hawkins Were Two Of New England’s Best Players This Year

Henry spent quite a while with the Chargers. He was the team’s second round draft choice back in 2016, back when they were in San Diego, and racked up 2,322 yards for them in five seasons.

In 2021, he inked a contract with New England. In his first season with his new team, the Patriots clinched a playoff berth. It didn’t go as planned. In the years that followed, it went even worse.

"It is a blessing to be in the playoffs again,” Henry said. “Honestly, we have had some hard times here. It is hard to get in, it really is. This is a tough league, there is a lot of parity. You have to be ready to go every single week, week in and week out throughout 17 games. We were able to execute at a high level 14 times and be able to come out with 14 wins, which is huge.”

We Got Whooped, It’s Tough

For Hawkins, his stint in Los Angeles was much shorter. The defensive back spent one year with the Chargers in 2023, before joining Jerod Mayo’s Patriots the following season. Like Henry, he also remembers the beatdown his old team laid at Gillette Stadium.

"I remember that day last year, it was tough. We got whooped, it's tough,” Hawkins said. “Obviously, we're a whole new team, whole new cast of characters, new coach and it's the playoffs, so we're just going in focusing on this. Knowing what we need to do and execute and come out victorious next week. We're playing to win."

Now after a three-year postseason drought, the Patriots return. This time, they’re getting a favorable home game against the Chargers — who finished second in the AFC West.

It’s the first time since 2018 that these two squads will play in the playoffs, and just the fifth time ever.

It will also be the first-career postseason game for Hawkins, making his revenge game that much more special.

"I reflect a lot, obviously you forget the loss,” Hawkins said. “I didn't necessarily forget that loss I felt last year because I remember those things. I take that with me and I use it as fuel. Last year I remember after this last game and we didn't have the opportunity to go into the post season. This year, it's a complete change, so we're blessed to have the opportunity. Now it's about what you do with it, God put it on our plate and now we just have to go."

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