K’Lavon Chaisson has been named AFC Defensive Player of the Week after his disruptive afternoon against the Tennessee Titans.
The New England Patriots outside linebacker notched three tackles and two sacks during Sunday’s 31-13 win at Nissan Stadium. He also recovered a fumble by rookie quarterback Cam Ward and returned the turnover for his first career touchdown.
Chaisson, 26, stands as the first NFL defender with two sacks and a fumble recovery for a touchdown in a game since 2019. It marks the first conference Defensive Player of the Week honor for the March signing. In Foxborough, he follows a list of linebackers over the past 10 campaigns that includes Dont’a Hightower in 2016, Kyle Van Noy in 2019 as well as Matthew Judon and Joshua Uche in 2022.
Both of his sacks during the trip to Nashville arrived on third down.
On a one-year deal with the Patriots, Chaisson has started five of his six appearances off the edges this fall, logging 242 snaps on defense and 56 snaps on special teams. His stay includes 4.5 sacks after setting a career high with five last season with the Las Vegas Raiders.
The veteran had amassed five sacks prior to then.
Selected in the first round of the 2020 NFL draft, Chaisson began his run with the Jacksonville Jaguars and has also been a member of the Carolina Panthers. He finds himself 78 games in. And on Wednesday, the 2019 national champion found himself as the sixth different former LSU linebacker to take home Defensive Player of the Week recognition, after Deion Jones, Devin White, Kwon Alexander, Liffort Hobley and Patrick Queen.
With touchdowns on kickoff and punt returns, running back Antonio Gibson and cornerback Marcus Jones previously earned AFC Special Teams Player of the Week nods for the Patriots during the first month of the season.
The Cleveland Browns visit Gillette Stadium for a 1 p.m. ET kickoff on Sunday.
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