Vederian Lowe’s absence leads to offensive line changes at Patriots practice

Vederian Lowe has repped as the Patriots' starting left tackle for the heavy majority of the summer, and pretty much non-stop since the preseason started almost three weeks ago. However, Lowe missed practice on Thursday after suffering an injury early in Wednesday's session, forcing the Patriots to reconfigure things up front.

With Lowe basically missing two days, the Patriots have shown two different combinations up front. When he went out on Wednesday, rookie Caedan Wallace stepped in at left tackle while the rest of the group stayed the same. Thursday saw more shuffling though. In preparing for a full practice without Lowe the coaching staff moved Chuks Okorafor from right tackle to left tackle, kicked Mike Onwenu out to right tackle from right guard, and put rookie Layden Robinson - who has had a very strong summer - in at right guard.

Neither practice was very high-intensity, making it tough to evaluate the overall performance of either group. There is still a valuable takeaway though, being those are likely the two top combinations the team would consider without Lowe, either if he's hurt or they have to pull him due to performance.

As for the first reason there, it doesn't sound like the team will be without Lowe for long. According to Christopher Price of The Boston Globe, "Vederian Lowe is dealing with a 'minor' oblique injury." Price added that the issue is "not expected to be a long-term thing."

Prior to Thursday's practice, offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt told reporters the team hopes to have its starting offensive line figured out coming out of Sunday night's preseason finale. It will be interesting to see what combination the team goes with in that game, and how they look.

With Lowe not expected to miss much time he could be back in the lineup for Week 1. Even if he is though, a positive showing from another group (albeit in relatively limited reps - Friday's practice and Sunday's game) could give the coaching staff something to think about if the performance up front isn't up to expectations right away.