The Patriots’ offensive line has not been a position of strength through the first six games.
Injuries and COVID have certainly been factors, but going into the season this was supposed to be one of the best units on the entire team and to this point in the year it’s been one of the worst.
Some players are starting to come back -- Isaiah Wynn and Michael Onwenu came off the COVID list for Sunday’s game against Dallas, but Trent Brown (injured reserve) has to miss at least one more game and Shaq Mason missed his second straight game with an abdomen injury.
Against the Cowboys, Wynn and Onwenu didn’t start, but came in and replaced Yodny Cajuste and Justin Herron as the tackles. Herron did end up coming back in for Wynn after nine snaps.
“We had two starting linemen that, Mike [Onwenu] missed some time and then came back at the end of the week, and then Isaiah [Wynn] wasn’t back until Saturday, so we were juggling some things on the offensive line. We did what we felt was best during the game,” Bill Belichick said Monday.
Pro Football Focus gave the Patriots a 25.7 pass blocking grade, by far their worst of the season. Prior to Sunday it was a 51.3 in Week 1 against Miami.
So, what should the Patriots’ starting offensive line look like this week against the Jets?
James Ferentz has one more week of being a standard elevation from the practice squad as he was a COVID elevation in Week 5 against Houston. This could come in play once again.
The locks are Wynn at left tackle and Andrews at center. If Mason comes back he would obviously slide in at right guard, but that’s no guarantee. If the Patriots are putting out their five best offensive linemen then Ted Karras should be involved at one of the interior spots.
Here’s our best guess as how it will look (left-to-right): Wynn-Karras-Andrews-Mason/Ferentz-Onwenu.
This leaves Justin Herron in a reserve role, but it feels like veterans Karras and Ferentz are better for the unit as a whole at the moment.
New England hosts the 1-4 Jets this Sunday.
