David Andrews is literally and figuratively the centerpiece of the Patriots offensive line.
The veteran center and team captain’s value was obvious when he missed all of last season due to blood clots in his lungs.
His return to the lineup this fall brought leadership, consistency and stability to a line that has impressively led the way for Cam Newton and Co. through two weeks of action.
But Andrews missed the first two days of practice this week due to a hand injury that’s required a cast on his right hand/wrist/thumb.
Given that that is the hand that Andrews snaps the ball with, his status for Sunday afternoon’s game against the Raiders is very much in doubt.
If Andrews can’t play, the most likely option to slide into the center position could be second-year lineman Hjalte Froholdt. The 2019 fourth-round pick out of Arkansas missed his entire rookie season on injured reserve.
Froholdt has been on the Patriots active gameday roster for each of the first two weeks of 2020, but has played just nine snaps, all on special teams.
As the week of preparations for Las Vegas wore down, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick talked about the 6-5, 310-pound Froholdt’s development during his Friday morning video call with the local media.
“Hjalte’s had a good offseason. He had an opportunity to get a lot of reps last year in training camp but then that was really about it for him,” Belichick said. “He was rehabbed early and was really ready by January, February to get a good full offseason in in terms of training and so forth even though we weren’t able to do it (at Gillette Stadium). He’s a hard-working kid who did a lot on his own. So he had a good offseason in terms of training and being healthy. He’s been able to be out on the field every day and work hard and continue to get better on a daily basis since we’ve had the opportunity to begin practicing.
“So he’s way ahead of where he was last year on a number of levels and still a young player that has a lot of room to grow. Works very hard at it. He’s taken a step to being close to playing and hopefully he’ll be able to compete for playing time here as he continues to improve.”
Depending on Andrews’ status, that playing time could come as early as Sunday afternoon against the Raiders.