It looks like the Patriots will work Cole Strange back into action during Drake Maye‘s rookie season. The team’s 2022 first-round pick is set to practice Wednesday, Jerod Mayo said.
This will mark the start of Strange’s 21-day activation window from the reserve/PUP list, which the veteran guard has resided on throughout the season. Strange has been working his way back from a torn patellar tendon in his left knee. This comes after a Mike Reiss ESPN.com offering indicated the third-year lineman is indeed in the homestretch of his recovery, pointing to an activation coming soon.
Playing exclusively at left guard during his first two seasons with the Pats, Strange has not yet justified his higher-than-expected draft slot. The Patriots chose Strange 29th overall and used him as a 17-game starter in 2022, but injury trouble surfaced last year. Strange missed four of New England’s first six games last season and then ended up shut down for their final three due to the severe knee malady he sustained.
Mayo had said Strange could see center work previously, and the rookie HC again did not rule this out. The Patriots have been without David Andrews for most of this season; the Tom Brady-era blocker is down for the rest of the year. Though, Mayo said (via the Boston Sports Journal’s Mike Giardi) the team wants to see Strange go through some practices before determining his position.
Not logging a snap anywhere else up front during his first two seasons, the young left guard returning would certainly boost a Pats line that has experienced staffing issues — particularly at center and left tackle — this season. The Patriots have given Michael Jordan the bulk of the work at LG this season; Pro Football Focus has rated both he and rookie Layden Robinson among the worst guard regulars this season. The team has also tried Michael Onwenu at left guard in recent practices, per the Boston Herald’s Doug Kyed. Onwenu has moved around the Pats’ O-line during his career but has concentrated on the right side, splitting his time between RG and RT in games this season.
Strange’s return should help the Pats settle on an Onwenu position, at long last. Although Mayo said third-round rookie Caedan Wallace was not yet ready to practice, a return before season’s end is expected. Wallace is eligible to come off IR, where he has resided since early October due to an ankle injury.
Who ever hires Bill B better not let him draft. He’s an awful GM.
I swear I have heard this opinion mentioned here before, somewhere.
Do you do the “Full throttle” comments on MLB Trade Rumors, as well, or do you consider yourself a specialist?
All joking aside, if this is going to be a community where knowledgeable fans share intelligent commentary on teams’ plans, transactions and management, “Bill Belichick sucks”, “Bob Kraft loves happy endings” and “Jerrod Mayo is useless dreck” is hardly original, contributive, or worth posting, ever again.
Do you ever see me comment on MLB trade rumors or any of their other sites?
If you think Bill is a decent judge of talent, then you haven’t paid attention to the game for 30+ years. If it wasn’t for Parcels and Tom, Bill B wouldn’t be a footnote in NFL history.
Everyone says ‘Tom left NE for TB because they had a better team…’. Who built those NE teams?
Arty, we’re not debating whether Belichick was (ever) a good judge of talent, or not.
What I’m talking about here, and what I’m hoping that you will take away from my comment, is that insightful and interesting commentary isn’t about throwing off the same barbs and slurs that we’ve all seen before.
The article says “Cole Strange is about to return from injury, and that this can’t help but improve the sorry state of the Pats’ OL”, which is true. As is (hopefully) the case, every team’s starters, no matter how awful, are better than the second string, and the riffraff that a team can pick up, mid-season, from the waiver wire (which, presumably, aren’t even good enough to be second stringers on the original team).
How does “Bill Belichick sucks as a talent evaluator” further this conversation? We’ve seen that take a few thousand times before, and we get it.
Let’s either talk about Cole Strange, the problems with the OL, or what the Pats need to do, this off-season, to improve, looking forward. I can assure you that Belichick won’t be part of the Pats’ decision making group for this next draft and free agency season.
“Bill sucks” has zero informational value. Let’s make interesting comments.
For the Pats, this is a STRANGE Move !!