Patriots Offensive Line
One of the Patriots biggest needs in the off-season was a starting NFL caliber Left Tackle. Eliot Wolf whiffed just like Bill Belichick did, failing to get a quality player to join the team.
The Patriots did sign a former #1 pick and 6-year starter, Chukwu Okorafor, formally of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He lost his starting Right Tackle job to the player Pittsburgh acquired from the Patriots last year. The 2024 draft was loaded with good, NFL caliber Left Tackles. In my initial Mock Draft, I suggested that Left Tackle and not QB should have been the teams in #1 priority. Without that anchor at Left Tackle, I don’t care who you put at QB, they are not going to succeed.
The Patriots prioritized QB and WR ahead of LT. Wolf and staff were caught flat footed and unprepared to adjust to the run of Left Tackles and they ended up being caught in no-mans-land. They chose a player they really liked in Caeden Wallace, who got lost in the quality of Tackles that came out in this year’s draft and I think he is a very underrated Right Tackle.
However, they are Right Tackles trying to make the switch. Okorafor has already stated in an OTA interview how hard it is to switch sides. He has 6 years’ experience but has never t the year on played the Left Side, the blind side of a Right-Handed QB. Wallace is extremely confident that he can make the switch but in his 5 years at Penn State he only played on the right side.
Michael Onwenu tried to make the switch to Left Guard and failed miserably. Onwenu is strictly a right sided player. Now with Cole Strange’s absence due to lingering problems from his knee injury last year, we are going to need another player on the Left Side. Reports from Albert Breer state that Strange will probably start the year on the Physically Unable to Play (PUP) list and won’t be back until mid-season at the earliest. Atonio Mafi and Jake Andrews are not the answer. Mafi has started to work at Center to make himself more valuable to the team. Nick Leverett, signed as a Free Agent, is another Right-Side player. They have tried Sidy Sow at Left Guard, and we won’t know about him until we see him against other players one-on-one when hitting begins in Training Camp. Fourth Round pick Layden Robinson is a Right Guard as well. Would they dare play two rookies out of place and next to each other?
New Offensive Line Coach Scott Peters and his assistant Bob Kugler have a lot of work to do and a tremendous amount of pressure on them. They need to fix this Left Tackle issue, plug in a new Left Guard, and implement the new blocking scheme that Alex Van Pelt wants to implement. The blocking schemes with stretch and zone blocking are key to the running game. Van Pelt wants to establish a running game so the QB can throw play-action passes which are higher percentage throws and are completed at a much higher rate.
Mayo States that Onwenu will not Move to Left Tackle
I applaud this decision to leave Big Mike alone at Right Tackle. Don’t weaken two positions by moving Onwenu. It also has been proven that Onwenu is strictly a right-handed player.
OTA Updates
Lots of veterans were missing from today’s (6/4) OTA that was open to the media. On the O-Line, both Chukwu Okorafor and Mike Onwenu were both among the missing. Caeden Wallace filled in at Right Tackle. Sidy Sow was at Left Guard again. Calvin Anderson at Left Tackle. Reports from the practice had Christian Barmore disrupting plays all over the place. His pressure on the interior lineman resulted in at least two sacks as the Defense dominated in a practice that was heavy on Red Zone play.
The following players were missing:
EDGE Matthew Judon
LB Sione Takitaki
CB Marcus Jones
CB Jonathan Jones recovering from off season surgery
LB Jahlani Tavai
EDGE Josh Uche
OL Zuri Henry He has missed every practice since his 1st day of work at rookie camp He has to be injured
OL Jake Andrews
OL Cole Strange recovering from off season surgery
OL Mike Onwenu
OL Chukwu Okorafor
Drake Maye elevated to #2 QB
Maye received the 2nd team reps ahead of Bailey Zappe but was very ineffective in the Red Zone with two picks thrown. One was clearly a misread. Maye led Antonio Gibson with a pass as Maye was seeing man coverage. Gibson saw it as zone, and stopped running, settling into the hole in the zone.
Pop Douglas was on fire
Reports from multiple sources said that Douglas couldn’t be covered. The Patriots’ best receiver was targeted early and often and scored multiple TDs during team drills. He was about the only thing the offense could bank on. Douglas put Isaiah Bolden in a blender to get wide open. Douglas let the defense know about it too! Unfortunately, the other offense group screwed up and all the Offensive players had to do push-ups.
Morse’s Morsels
New Addition to Scouting Staff
According to Neil Stratton of Inside the League, Bob Kronenberg has been hired as the new Assistant Director of Pro Scouting. Kronenberg comes from the Falcons organization. Last season Kronenberg was the Assistant Offensive Line coach in Atlanta, and he has extensive coaching and scouting experience. He was the former Head Coach of the Atlanta Force of the AFL.
Patriots Sign Un-Drafted Free Agent WR
The Patriots announced they have signed WR David Wallis from D III Randolph Macon College in Virginia. The 5’ 11”. 183 lbs wideout attended the Patriots Rookie Camp on a tryout basis and they liked what they saw in Wallis. The speed receiver ran a reported 4.4 4o yard dash, 4.13 Short Shuttle and a 6.94 3-cone drill, making him one of the fastest and quickest Receiver on the team.
Wallis had a stellar career at Randolph – Macon, with an accumulated 21.5 Yards Per Catch on 146 catches for 3144 yards and 34 TDs (school record). In his Grad season as a 5th year senior, he had 53 catches for 957 and 12 TDs. You must qualify his stats. A Division III CB is not an NFL CB. Wallis is a longshot to make the Patriots, but he is such a good story that you can’t help but root for him to at least make the Practice Squad. Back in 1993, Troy Brown was an 8th Round pick (#198) and was cut and didn’t make the final roster. He was on the practice squad and was re-signed after 4 games. This is the kind of path I see for Wallis if he shows anything in camp.
Wallis replaces OT Andrew Steuber who was waived on Monday. The 2022 7th Round pick out of Michigan missed his entire rookie season with a torn hamstring and was on the Patriots Practice Squad last season. He never played a down in the NFL.
The Patriots now have 14 Un Drafted Free Agents on their roster.
Patriots Working Out Top UFL Lineman
The Patriots are bringing in Liam Fornadel and Offensive Tackle for the UFL DC Defenders the last two years. The 6’4” 312 lb tackle played at James Madison from 2017 -2021 and received All American 1st team and second team honors. According to James Larsen of pro Football Network, Fornadel had a 79.1 rating from Pro Football Focus and was the top ranked O-lineman in the UFL. Fornadel is also working out for the Green Bay Packers.
Mini Camp Opens Next Week June 10- 12
This is a mandatory camp and anyone who does not show up can be fined by the team. A couple of players appear to be Holding-In. They do not show up for Organized Team Activities (OTA’s) which are voluntary according to the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Most of these players are looking to get years added onto their contracts such as Matt Judon and Davon Godchaux. Judon turns 32 in August and Godchaux turns 30 in September and they are looking for some security.
Other players have missed these OTA’s like Josh Uche and Anfernee Jennings. I would have thought that Uche would be in there fighting for a job. Jennings signed a 3-year deal in March to stay with the Patriots, so his absence has been a surprise.
TB 12 enshrinement into Patriots Hall of Fame Next Week.
Tom Brady will get his Red Jacket on Wednesday June 12th in Gillette Stadium. I feel the Kraft’s charging the season ticket holders and the general public to see this event live is atrocious and in very bad taste. The fans want to show their appreciation to Tom Brady for what he did for the franchise, and to go and make money off of this when you have never charged for any other players enshrinement is just another money grabbing gesture by the ownership. Don’t try and hide behind the reason there are many people that want to attend and it’s for their public safety.
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Merrimack Valley native and lifelong fan of the New England Patriots. My earliest memories of the Patriots were attending as a child with my dad, the off-season practice at Phillips Academy. I was at the Patriots game at Harvard Stadium in 1970 where Bob “Harpo” Gladieux was called out of the stands by the stadium announcer over the PA to play in the game. Analyzing the draft since ESPN first started to televise it in 1980 and former writer for the Lowell Sun Newspaper.
