Patriots guard Joe Thuney knows only one way to end an NFL season: Being a starter in the Super Bowl.
Thuney, who is in his third season after the Patriots chose him in the third round of the 2016 draft, has started the last two Super Bowls and is slated to start next week’s game as well. According to Mike Reiss of ESPN, that makes Thuney the first player in NFL history to start in the Super Bowl in each of his first three seasons.
Not many players have even been on three straight Super Bowl teams: Prior to these Patriots, the only franchises to make the Super Bowl three years in a row were the Bills, who went to four in a row in Super Bowls, XXV-XXVIII, and the Dolphins, who went to three in a row in Super Bowls VI-VIII. Neither the Dolphins nor the Bills had a player who started the Super Bowl as a rookie, a second-year player and a third-year player.
Thuney isn’t exactly a household name, but he’s about to become the owner of an impressive and unique achievement in NFL history.
