Patriots veteran offensive lineman Ryan Wendell was one of four players elected to the NFLPA Executive Committee on Friday in Hawaii. (He joins Thomas Davis, Richard Sherman and Shaun Suisham as part of a group that includes current committee members Lorenzo Alexander, Zak DeOssie, Matt Hasselbeck, Mark Herzlich, Adam Vinatieri and Benjamin Watson. That group works with newly re-elected NFLPA president Eric Winston.) From this perspective, Wendell’s status for the 2016 season as a player remains in doubt — the 30-year-old was on the shelf for most of the 2015 campaign, and with the Patriots apparent surplus of bodies at the guard position, there’s the possibility the franchise is preparing for life after the study Fresno State product, currently a free agent. We were wondering if the fact that he’s now a part of NFLPA leadership suggests that he’s going to at least try and keep playing. However, according to an NFLPA spokesperson, according to our constitution, to be eligible to run for executive committee or president, a player must have had an NFL contract within 12 months prior to the election date. Once elected, the player can serve the full two-year term, regardless of his contract status. Regardless of what he ends up doing as a player this year, the fact that he’s reached lofty status as a part of the NFLPA is certainly a feather in Wendell’s cap — for a guy who entered the league as an undrafted free agent and has managed to stick with New England for eight years, it’s a serious honor. Good for him.
