The health of New England Patriots offensive lineman Cole Strange is certainly a big question heading into 2024, with the selection of fourth-round pick Layden Robinson in April being a potential sign that the Patriots knew they might have to get through a good portion of this season without him.
Previous reports had said Strange could miss “half the season” as he continues recovering from the knee injury that sidelined him for the remainder of the 2023 season. However, Greg Bedard of Boston Sports Journal said in a recent mailbag that it’s possible he may not make it back at all this year.
“Pretty sure he’ll start on PUP, and I’d be surprised if [we] saw him at all this season,” wrote Bedard. “Earliest, the middle of the season.”
The former Chattanooga standout initially suffered the knee injury last preseason, going down while battling against former defensive lineman Lawrence Guy during the first padded practice of training camp last August. It lingered coming out of camp, with Strange spending the first eight weeks of 2023 on the injury report as a limited participant in practice.
Strange missed the opener against the Eagles, but he came back and played the next two weeks, playing in 100% of the snaps against Miami while only seeing 61% of the snaps against the Jets.
He was then inactive for three straight weeks before being active in Week 7 against the Bills, with Strange finally coming off the injury report for good in Week 8 ahead of their match-up against Miami. It’s safe to say he likely wasn’t necessarily 100% healthy, but he was seemingly a full participant from that point forward, so his ailment flew under the radar as he continued toughing it out.
Despite the eight weeks he spent on the injury report, he never missed a practice (he was a ‘limited’ participant). Tom Curran of NBC Sports Boston reported coming out of preseason that the initial knee injury he dealt with in training camp required surgery, but Strange elected to play through it, toughing it out for the majority of the season.
Unfortunately, he seemingly injured it further during the club’s Week 15 loss against the Chiefs, which saw the young lineman get carted off the field.
As a result, Strange’s decision to tough things out and forego a procedure is likely something he’s second-guessing.
Now, it’s possible that after trying to gut things out during the team’s disappointing 4-13 finish in 2023, the third-year offensive lineman could miss most of this season as the train continues rolling forward, which it sounds like it could see him as a spectator for a good portion of this upcoming 2024 campaign.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
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