If you thought the Patriots’ offensive line was a liability, it just got a whole lot worse after losing its most experienced player in David Andrews to a season-ending shoulder injury.
Per reports from MassLive’s Mark Daniels Wednesday morning, the two-time Super Bowl winner was weighing his options regarding a shoulder surgery that would take him out for the rest of the season. Now, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the captain has decided to go for the surgery.
The crew on The Greg Hill Show discussed these reports Wednesday, the impact of Andrews’ absence, and how this would affect the prospect of Drake Maye playing this season.
“It's simple,” Jermaine Wiggins began. “Teams like [the Patriots] that are bad, coming off a bad season, that draft the quarterback high and don't go out and get an established veteran or have an established veteran in front of them, they play their third overall [pick] quarterback regardless [of] how good the line is, regardless of the talent they have around them. Because that's why they drafted said player in the top three, top five.”
Wiggy, who has been a staunch member of the ‘Play Maye’ camp this whole season, argued that learning how to play quarterback behind a porous offensive line and with untalented receivers could be important for Maye.
“Yes, nobody expects Drake Maye to come out there and save the world. We don't expect Drake Maye to come out there and [the Patriots to] be a playoff team. What we do expect is for Drake Maye to go out there and learn to take his lumps, to do all the things that he needs to do,” Wiggy said.
“So when he gets into a second year, he can remember all the things that he did bad his first year and [what] he has to work on. And it allows Eliot Wolf to say, ‘How do we want to build the team around them via draft and free agency?’”
Chris Curtis backed up this point, saying that the Patriots need to make good on their third overall pick and play the player they drafted.
“It is without precedent. There has never been a top-five pick as a quarterback taken and then sat behind a quarterback of the stature of Jacoby Brissett,” Curtis said.
The Jordan Loves and Patrick Mahomes of the world, Curtis argued, sat earlier in their career because there was a more competent and experienced quarterback in front of them.
“Every example that you're gonna cite, Mahomes was on a playoff team, sat behind a Pro Bowler in Alex Smith. Tom Brady, even though he wasn't a first-round pick, sat behind a Pro Bowler in Drew Bledsoe. All of the great quarterbacks taken in the top five, either sat behind a historically great [quarterback] or a Hall of Famer,” Curtis said.
Hill asked if the injury to Andrews changes anyone’s minds on whether Maye should start.
“No, that doesn't affect me in any way, I still play him,” Wiggy said.
Patriots coach Jerod Mayo told reporters on Wednesday that any decision regarding Maye would be “independent” of the news of Andrews’ injury.
Wiggy believes the offense could better complement Maye’s skillset without the safety blanket of a strong offensive line.
“Now the offensive coordinator just says, ‘Hey, we got to do more things where Drake Maye uses his legs, get him out of the pocket,’” Wiggy said.
Andrews has suggested in the past that he may be close to retirement. How does that play into the Patriots’ thinking in deciding whether to play Maye? Curtis thinks it should give them more reason to play him.
“The odds are that Drake Maye will never actually play with David Andrews because he's probably not going to be on the team next year,” Curtis said.
“Might as well learn with whoever [Nick Leverett] is, the guy that's playing now.”