FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Patriots announced today the addition of Ray Ventrone to Bill Belichick's staff as assistant special teams coach. Ventrone spent four years with the New England Patriots after originally joining the team as a rookie free agent out of Villanova in 2005.
Ventrone is a veteran of nine NFL seasons as a player with New England (2006-2008), the New York Jets (2007), Cleveland Browns (2009-2012) and the San Francisco 49ers (2013-2014). During his NFL career, he was primarily used as a special teams player, registering 57 total tackles, including a season-high of 12 in 2009 with the Browns.
Ventrone was originally signed by New England as a rookie free agent out of Villanova in 2005. After spending the 2005 season on the Patriots' practice squad and the 2006 season on injured reserve, he split the 2007 season between the Jets and the Patriots practice squads before being signed to the New England 53-man roster in November. Ventrone played in two regular-season games and in Super Bowl XLII that year. Ventrone played the entire 2008 season with the Patriots before playing four years in Cleveland and the last two seasons in San Francisco.
