J.C. Jackson, Matthew Slater earn second-team All-Pro honors

Related: J.C. Jackson on first Pro Bowl selection: ‘I didn’t do it by myself’

The Associated Press revealed its 2021 NFL All-Pro team on Friday and no members of the New England Patriots have made the cut. For the first time since 2013, New England is represented solely on the second squad.

Two of their players gathered enough of the 50 available votes to earn that distinction. J.C. Jackson finished third among cornerbacks, while Matthew Slater was ranked second among special teamers.

A Pro Bowl selection for the first time in his career earlier this season, Jackson received 25 votes. Only the Dallas Cowboys’ Trevon Diggs (33) and the Los Angeles Rams’ Jalen Ramsey (32) were able to get more than that, meaning that he has been made the second All-Pro squad for the first time since joining the league as a rookie free agent in 2018.

Jackson, 26, finished the regular season with eight interceptions as well as a league-high 23 pass-breakups. The fourth-year man also forced a fumble and returned one of his picks for a touchdown.

Matthew Slater, meanwhile, trailed only the New Orleans Saints’ J.T. Gray. Whereas Gray received 18 votes, Slater was the special teamer of choice for 10 of the voters. As a result, the veteran has made his fifth All-Pro squad: he was a first-teamer in 2016 and 2019, and made the second team in 2017 and 2020.

Slater, 36, appeared in all 17 of New England’s regular season games. He registered 11 combined tackles, second on the team behind only Cody Davis’ 15.

Five other members of the Patriots received votes but did neither make the first nor the second All-Pro team: linebacker Matthew Judon and long snapper Joe Cardona received three votes each, while safety Adrian Phillips got two. Kicker Nick Folk and right guard Shaq Mason were picked by one voter.