After Week 1 switch, Patriots left tackle competition will continue
The Patriots left tackle situation remains a question after their Week 1 win.
Throughout the summer, the Patriots left tackle spot was one of the biggest questions facing the team. Even after their Week 1 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, that question still lingers.
Prior to the start of the season, Eliot Wolf highlighted free agent signing Chuks Okorafor – a career right tackle – as the Patriots’ top option on the left side to replace Trent Brown. However as the team moved players around up front during training camp it was 2023 trade acquisition Vederian Lowe who emerged as the presumed starter. Lowe spent most of training camp as the Patriots’ top left tackle until suffering an injury in practice leading up to the final preseason game. Okorafor started that game and struggled.
Coming into Week 1 Lowe was limited in practice and listed as questionable due to that abdominal injury from late August. Lowe was active but Okorafor got the start.
Okorafor’s day only lasted 13 plays though. Of those 13 plays the Patriots threw five times, with Okorafor allowing pressures on three of those five dropbacks (all against star Bengals pass rusher Trey Hendrickson) per NFL Next Gen Stats.
Lowe swapped in for Okorafor midway through the team’s second drive. He was called for a false start three plays in, and is pass protection allowed four pressures in 16 reps against Hendrickson.
With Lowe in the pass protection was better but still an issue. Next Gen Stats has Jacoby Brissett pressured on 48.3 percent of his dropbacks (14 of 29) on Sunday. That’s the highest pressure rate for any quarterback in the league in Week 1, heading into Monday Night Football.
According to PFF, 46.2 percent of the pressures against the Patriots on Sunday were allowed by left tackles. Only two teams had a higher percentage in Week 1. One was the Rams, who elevated practice squad tackle A. J. Arcuri to make an emergency start against Pro Bowler Aidan Hutchinson. The other was the Packers, with four of their eight total pressures allowed to a dominant Eagles front coming against starting left tackle Rasheed Walker.
What happens next for the Patriots left tackle situation? Head coach Jerod Mayo told reporters Monday morning he expects the competition between Okorafor and Lowe to continue.
“I think [Okorafor] has the entire skill set to be a good tackle in this league. I would say during the game, there were some challenges.” Mayo said when asked if the switch at left tackle could be described as a ‘benching.’ “He had some challenges and some struggles over there, and Lowe came in and did a great job for us.”
“Once again, it’s about competing each and every week, and we’ll see how this week of preparation goes,” Mayo added, in regards to the plan at left tackle moving forward. “[Okorafor] may be in there. I’m not sure. We’ll just have to see how the week goes.”
Even with the switch at left tackle though, Mayo was happy with the performance of the offensive line. “I’ve been saying it for a long time – I think the whole offensive line conversation has been overblown,” Mayo said on Monday. “Every game, every preseason game, those guys have done a good job moving bodies and establishing toughness on the line of scrimmage. They did that yesterday. I’m not really too concerned with the offensive line. Those guys are going to get better every week.”
In particular Mayo highlighted the work of rookie right guard Layden Robinson. “There was a point in time during training camp where [the coaching staff] said, ‘Layden Robinson has an opportunity to be a special player in this league,’” Mayo shared. “He’s tough. He’ll move guys off the line of scrimmage. He can do it all. His overall effort and mentality is something that, when you think about changing a culture, he’s definitely one of those guys that fits into that box. He did a great job.
“Now, in saying that, it’s only one game,” Mayo added. “We’ll see how that continues to progress going forward.”
In particular, the Patriots will need Robinson to progress as a pass blocker. He allowed five pressures on 29 passing plays on Sunday, per PFF. That was the most by any lineman on the team (with the Patriots left tackles splitting seven pressures total). The only other player to get charged with a pressure was left guard Michael Jordan, who allowed two. Center David Andrews and right tackle Mike Onwenu weren’t listed with any.
The Patriots will also need to improve their run blocking next week against the Seahawks. While the team had a dominant day running the ball overall a lot of that was due to the work of Rhamondre Stevenson. Of his 120 yards 118 came after contact, which led all rushers in Week 1 along with his 10 broken tackles.
