Latest update on Cole Strange leaves key question for Sunday
New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo told reporters on Friday that Cole Strange isn’t expected to be activated for this Sunday’s game. That leaves left guard an unknown for this Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts.
With the New England Patriots waiving starting left guard Michael Jordan at the beginning of the week, the team set itself up for at least one chance on the starting offensive line. However, exactly what that change will be remains to be seen.
Initially, it looked like Cole Strange would be in line to return to his natural position. Strange practiced for the first time this season last week, after starting the year on PUP while rehabbing from a knee injury he suffered last December. However, head coach Jerod Mayo shared on Friday that Strange’s return will have to wait at least one more week.
“Cole won’t play this Sunday,” Mayo said. “he’s done a great job. Every day in here rehabbing and every day in here in all the meetings. The mental aspect when he’s ready to go shouldn’t be too big of a hurdle for him. Excited to get him out there, but not this week.”
While Strange won’t play this week, Mayo said he does “anticipate Cole playing football for us this year.” The Patriots have until Wednesday, Dec. 11 to officially activate him from PUP or he would become ineligible to play for the remainder of the year.
While the team waits on Strange’s return, they’ll still need a left guard for this week. One candidate is rookie Layden Robinson, who began the season as a right guard but has been working on the left side in practice the last few weeks.
“Layden, we started to put him in there on the show team at different spots just to become an overall better football player,” Mayo said on Friday. “He’s doing a good job for us. This guy is strong, and he just has to see the same picture that everyone else sees and go out there and execute. He definitely has talent to be a starter in his league.” Robinson was getting snaps at left guard in team drills during the brief period of practice open to the media on Friday.
Another option could be Jordan himself. After getting cut on Tuesday, Jordan re-signed with the Patriots’ practice squad on Friday morning. The team released tackle Jalen McKenzie to open up a spot for the move.
