Patriots Daily: More Offensive Line Shuffling in Camp

New England Patriots starting left tackle Vederian Lowe left practice on Wednesday. As discussed on yesterday’s Patriots Daily, rookie Caedan Wallace replaced him on the first unit and impressed. Lowe remained a nonparticipant in Thursday’s practice. This time, the offensive line went with an entirely new look.

Despite Wallace looking good on Wednesday, he was not part of Thursday’s first unit. Right tackle Chukwuma Okorafor switched sides to become the left tackle with the starters. Right guard Mike Onwenu moved from right guard to right tackle, where many felt he should have been from the outset of camp. And rookie Layden Robinson joined the first unit at right guard. The left guard-center combination of Sidy Sow and David Andrews remained unchanged.

The promotion of Robinson does not come as a major surprise. He was New England’s highest-graded offensive lineman against Carolina in the preseason opener. He has been getting reps with the first unit, though they have come at left guard, alternating with Sow. Robinson was a right guard in college, however.

Okorafor began training camp at left tackle opposite Calvin Anderson. His NFL experience came almost entirely at right tackle, but the Patriots were confident he could switch sides. When he appeared less comfortable on the left, he moved to right tackle, with Vederian Lowe eventually taking over the starting left tackle role. Onwenu was signed to a three-year deal in free agency, assuming he would be the team’s right tackle but he has played almost entirely at right guard in camp.

Yesterday’s movement along the line gives the impression New England is still far from finalizing a starting unit along the offensive line. The fewer reps the line gets as a unit, the less effective they are likely to be. And the Patriots’ Week 1 game is now just 16 days away. Perhaps Vederian Lowe will return to practice soon, and things will go back to how they were, but for now, there appear to be a lot of question marks for a unit where more questions are not needed.

Also in Friday’s Patriots Daily:

Patriots Fact of the Day

New England Patriots center David Andrews currently ranks ninth in franchise history for most games played by an offensive lineman, including the postseason. Andrews has played in 132 career games. The eight players ahead of him:

219 Bruce Armstrong
190 John Hannah
175 Matt Light
162 Pete Brock
153 Bill Lenkaitis
147 Logan Mankins
139 Marcus Cannon
135 Dan Koppen

Post of the Day

Today’s post comes from MLFootball with a Tom Brady fun fact:

🚨INSANE: IT WAS MORE STATISTICALLY LIKELY FOR TOM BRADY TO MAKE THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME THAN FOR ANY NFL QB TO COMPLETE A PASS

The NFL record for career completion percentage is 67.8%.

Tom Brady reached the conference championship in 73.7% of the seasons he was a starter

🐐🐐🐐 pic.twitter.com/6bexy6tzLU

— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) August 22, 2024

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