At one point, it looked like the Patriots had found their starting five offensive linemen.
After Saturday’s preseason game against the Minnesota Vikings, it’s clear that’s not the case. Following a tough week of joint practices against a very talented defensive front, Mike Vrabel and his staff tweaked the Patriots’ starting offensive line.
On Saturday, Ben Brown started at left guard in place of Jared Wilson. The rookie appeared to have beaten out Cole Strange earlier in training camp, but against the Vikings, he played left guard and center with the backup offense.
After the win, Vrabel said the Patriots haven’t decided on a starting five and don’t have a timeline with one more preseason game on the schedule.
“There’s not a timeline, but I think when it becomes clear. It didn’t before, and I don’t think it has yet now,” Vrabel said in Minnesota. “We’ll still keep working and trying to get the best group in there and get guys who are versatile and can help us behind them. Very rarely are you going to play the best five in a 17-game season, and hopefully whatever comes after that is just trying to get a good group of solid offensive linemen, establish the first unit, and then also have some really good pieces behind them.”
The Patriots also started seventh-round pick Marcus Bryant in place of veteran right tackle Morgan Moses, who’s been on a pitch count this summer to get him ready for the season.
The Patriots started Will Campbell (left tackle), Brown (left guard), Garrett Bradbury (center), Michael Onwenu (right guard), and Bryant (right tackle) in front of Drake Maye on Saturday.
Last season, the Patriots signed Brown off the Las Vegas practice squad to their active roster. He started 10 games at center. Next month, he could make his first NFL start at guard.
Wilson missed this spring recovering from an injury. The third-round pick had a really strong start to training camp, and it wasn’t a surprise when the team inserted him into the starting unit on Day 6 of training camp.
However, Wilson had some struggles in the Patriots’ first preseason game. That included a missed block on a stunt that led to a Drake Maye strip sack.
This past week, Wilson struggled in the first joint practice against the Vikings. It looked like the rookie allowed two sacks in full-team drills. On Thursday, however, it also looked like Wilson was dealing with an injury.
The rookie didn’t participate in 1-on-1 drills and then left the field when full-team work started. Wilson worked out on the field before the game and was ready to play, but Brown started.
“Just trying to get everyone in the spots they may end up in and still have a competition at that left guard,” Vrabel said. “And making sure that (Wilson)’s where he needs to be. I give him credit. Wasn’t able to practice Thursday. Worked hard to get back. Worked him out before the game. We all decided that he would be able to play. And he played and probably had some good snaps and probably had some snaps that we’re going to need to improve on. That’s the plan – try to get him all the work that he may need and continue to compete.”
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