The New England Patriots made significant changes this spring with the hope that it would fix one of the NFL’s worst passing offenses in 2022. While there have been some positives out of the Patriots training camp, it’s evident there is at least one major issue on the offensive side of the ball.
New England invested significant resources to improve offensively. It parted ways with play-caller Matt Patricia, hiring veteran offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien to run the offense and work one-on-one with quarterback Mac Jones.
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The changes with the coaching staff alone were already expected to have a positive influence on New England’s offense. Pair that with the signings of wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and tight end Mike Gesicki, the Patriots’ offense would finally have more weapons to support their young quarterback.
However, while New England has impressed defensively this summer and its roster appears much deeper than it was last season at certain spots, there’s one recurring issue that is now becoming a bigger storyline heading into the regular season.
Chad Graff of The Athletic recapped New England’s joint practice with the Green Bay Packers and previewed their upcoming preseason matchup. When highlighting Jones, he mentioned that the third-year passer has looked great as of late but ” Jones has little time to throw due to the leaky offensive line.”
It’s not the first account of New England’s offensive line struggling this summer. Graff’s 53-man roster projection for the Patriots noted that it’s been a “rough showing” for the entire group since training camp opened. Of even greater concern, projected starters Michael Onwenu and Cole Strange are now uncertain to play in Week 1 and the lack of proven depth behind them has been glaring to practice observers.
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Evan Lazar of Patriots.com mentioned the offensive line’s issues this summer, especially on the first day of the joint practice against Green Bay. A day later, New England’s offensive line performing ‘fine‘ was viewed as a step forward based on the previous results.
Getting Strange and Onwenu back would be a significant improvement for the Patriots’ offensive line, but New England isn’t providing any details on when they’ll even return to the practice field. As long as they are sidelined, the issues up front could significantly hinder an offense that many around the NFL were already skeptical of heading into the season.
