The New England Patriots' offensive line remains an area of concern with the team's regular-season opener less than three weeks away.
The unit struggled throughout training camp, and that factored into head coach Jerod Mayo's decision to limit rookie quarterback Drake Maye to just one series in the preseason opener vs. the Carolina Panthers. Mayo acknowledged the importance of protecting the third overall draft pick.
On Sunday, Boston Sports Journal's Greg Bedard asked Pats vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf directly about the offensive line. Bedard asked whether having to limit Maye because of the state of the o-line was an indictment of his offseason moves, resulting in the following exchange:
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Bedard: "You went in saying (Chukwuma) Okorafor was going to be your left tackle, (Mike) Onwenu was the best tackle in free agency, (Caedan) Wallace could play left tackle. Not a lot of that stuff has happened."
Wolf: "Which one of those hasn't happened?"
Bedard: "I mean, we didn't see Mike Onwenu at right tackle until yesterday."
Wolf: "So, yeah, Okorafor's taken reps on both sides, Onwenu took some reps at tackle yesterday. Again, I think we're just trying to find the right combination."
Those comments from Wolf didn't sit well with our Tom E. Curran and Phil Perry. The duo discussed them, as well as their thoughts on the offensive line heading into the season, on the latest episode of the Patriots Talk Podcast.
🔊 Patriots Talk: Patriots GM Eliot Wolf tries to alter offensive line reality | Listen & Subscribe | Watch on YouTube
"I found that to be a knee-buckling disappointing answer from Eliot Wolf," Curran said. "I mean, either he's naive, or he thinks we're naive, or he's being disingenuous, or he thinks we're stupid or he's stupid. So I'm gonna go with disingenuous.
"But to me, to counter Greg's contention that Okorafor's playing left tackle and Mike Onwenu was the best tackle in the league, and kind of forecasting that he might be playing tackle. None of those things have happened. And then to say with a straight face, 'Which one of those things didn't happen?' It really made me see red, because to pretend that the day before we spoke to him was the first time that Mike Onwenu was at the tackle spot and Okorafor had not been there, it was just so disingenuous."
Perry believes there's a chance Wolf genuinely believes in the group he assembled.
"If I try to get into Eliot Wolf's head and we try to figure out what he's actually thinking when it comes to this line, or even with an answer like that one, my guess is he still believes in his guys, and he still believes in his moves," he said.
"I mean, this is his offensive line. He's the one who decided to go into the season like this. And so, until it's painfully obvious to everyone who watches the team in a regular-season game that it's not going well, he's probably not going to acknowledge defeat. It's still early in his mind."
Also in the episode:
- Breaking down the latest in the QB competition between Drake Maye and Jacoby Brissett.
- What will it take for Drake Maye to win the starting job outright?
- Taking a closer look at the status of the wide receiver group’s development.