Patriots Mike Wright Seems to Be Progressing
There was some good news from head coach Bill Belichick on Thursday regarding Mike Wright, who spent the offseason recovering from a concussion he suffered on November 21st of last year against the Indianapolis Colts, which ended his season.
 According to Belichick, it's not concussion symptoms keeping Mike Wright sidelined currently. (FILE:Icon/SMI) |
The injury forced Wright to miss the final six weeks of the regular season season before eventually being placed on injured reserve. It was a disappointing end to what had been a promising season for the former 29-year old undrafted free agent, and the fact he was placed on IR on January 7th, 2011 shows you that they were holding out hope that he'd be able to contribute during the playoffs.
The good news is, things sound like they're finally looking up for the 29-year old. According to head coach Bill Belichick, he no longer seems to be suffering any lingering effects from the injury.
"I don't think anything that happened last year right now is related to anything that is going on this year," Belichick said of Wright on Thursday. "Look, you can ask the same question about any player that's not out there. Would we like to see them all out there? Absolutely. When will they be ready? As soon as they're ready. So we'll just have to see how that is with any of the players that you want to mention that aren't out there - it's the same for all of them."
Wright had played well before going down last season, recording 14 tackles and a career-high 5.5 sacks in his 10 games last year.
However, this year they seemed to take a cautious approach toward his return. According to Jeff Howe of NESN, Wright missed 11 out of the first 21 practices, and hasn't practiced since August 3rd. Wright wasn't at practice again on Wednesday as he continues battling whatever ailment he's currently dealing with.
Some have speculated his future on the roster in terms of starting out on PUP, but since he's already practiced, he's ineligible to start the year there.
The good news is that at least it doesn't appear to be concussion-related, which in itself is certainly encouraging. Hopefully he'll be closer to returning in the next few weeks as we get closer to the regular season, and he can pick up from where he left off last year.
