Patriots make MAJOR move - More moves incoming... | Patriots news

The New England Patriots have made a major move and more moves are incoming for Mike Grable and his offense as injuries continue to pile up specifically on the offensive side and more specifically on the offensive line to the point where you have no other options and must look into NFL free agency to solve the issue at hand. The injury bug continues to bite and at this point the Patriots have put more players on injured reserve this season across three weeks than they put all of last season. So pretty crazy and of course you're going to need something to kind of fix the issue. So welcome to Patriots Digest everybody. I'm Jace Andrews and I hope you're having a great day wherever you guys might be. Got some interesting news and rumors to get to here in the show but let's start with the news side of it first and go to Carlos A. Lopez. This happened yesterday but it is still you know now official today I guess but the Patriots have placed starting right guard Greg Van Roten on injured reserve with his thigh injury. It was taken out of the game in Jacksonville this past week. Walter Rouse came in there and competed but now you are out both of your right guards at this point with Michael Winyu of course going down with an injury in week two and now having Greg Van Roten going down with an injury here in week number three. You are left in a very very tough spot on your offensive line because if you look at what you have here your right guards are decimated. You don't have any left at this point. Walter Rouse is expected to take some snaps. Ben Brown is a guy that I would look to and be a very big option for this Patriots team to actually put on that offensive line but the Patriots at this point I feel like they've almost waited too long in some ways to make a decision on whether or not they want to go out there and try and grab somebody off the free agency market as names continue to fly off the board. Now in terms of what we can expect from this injury and what we can see moving forward I don't really know what to expect. Walter Rouse is a guy who was the third stringer last week and he did come in but he allowed four pressures and had one of the worst PFF grades you will see on an offensive line so I'm a little I'm not a little I'm not confident in him going out there and protecting Drake May especially against you know some of the teams that they have upcoming you think about you know Max Crosby here in a couple weeks no disrespect to the Bills defensive line they're pretty solid too so there's just a lot of things that are going to be coming at this offensive line and the pressure off the right side is it's getting hard to manage for Drake May and I've mentioned it in videos prior but we can crap on Drake May and said he's made bad decisions and this is not all his fault the offensive line has not protected him great the past two weeks and on top of which the wide receiver routes are very very wrong but all this to be said the Patriots are in an interesting spot like they have so many players on IR and yet they have chosen not to go out and try and sign people I mean you think about what even Mike Vrabel said before the season started he said the depth was an issue here and that they did not have a lot of depth now your depth is being tested and they haven't gone out and made any giant signings or any really major signings on the active roster like they've taken guys from the practice squad they've added guys to the practice squad but you've got to go out there and do something more maybe even making a trade would be the best case scenario but Mike Reese of ESPN kind of giving us some information here talking about Michael NU and then how this is the 17th player the Patriots have placed on IR and of course that was the that that amounts last year's total of 16 players last year which is a crazy stat to think about it that you've had 17 players on IR or reached an injury settlement with this season meanwhile you had 16 in what a 20-week season 23-week season concluded 0-0 last year it's insane and of course it's it's really hard on kind of this situation that you have and kind of what exactly the expectation is moving forward on the offensive line and specifically that right guard situation without Michael NU and Greg Van Roten when he was probably gone for the season Van Roten it said four to six weeks is the initial thing but he's he's 36 years old this could be easily one that just lingers for the entire season as well we don't exactly know you're in a position where you've got to figure out something you've got to figure out something quick and even at this position even moving Walter Ross over there you're just thin on the offensive line as a whole and I think you got to make a decision here quick especially since even last week Morgan Moses was taken off for a little bit and Caleb Lomu went out there at the right tackle position but of course Mark Daniels gives us an inside look and saying another option at the backup is of course Ben Brown last season he started four games with left guard filling in for Jared Wilson when he was injured Brown played well and was viewed as the team's top backup interior offensive lineman entering the season so the question is why exactly is he not getting looked at well I think originally it was because they had signed Greg Van Roten so that they could leave Ben Brown behind Jared Wilson because we know the injury history with Wilson last year but when push comes to shove you've got to make an interesting decision and now you are being put in the back of a corner Mike Riebel did admit that they are going to start looking at Brown as a potential option he's going to take reps there in fact Mike Riebel said this yesterday on Brown quote Walt has been working there a right guard Vrabel said on Monday we felt confident that he would that that was the plan going in that Ben Brown would be the center and then the first left guard in that's where we had been working and it's good to have been back healthy I'm sure he will help us they'll probably have to help us this week I thought Walter had a few mistakes but he complete he competed and we'll have to improve I'm sure Ben will be a part of that process going forward so you can kind of see given what mistakes happened with Walter Rouse last week they're going to be using more of Ben Brown in this offensive line but I don't know that that's enough and that's where I go kind of with the thought process of looking at the depth chart once again let's say Walter Rouse takes over at the right guard position then you have your offensive line of Will Campbell with the backup of Caleb Loma but we know that he's backing up Morgan Moses who also was injured last week Demetrius Crownever has been injured and inactive at times Wilson's been playing fine but if his backup gets put into the other side then you're in a spot where you can't see it then of course you have Walter Rouse and Elijah Veritaker you just you're thin you're thin everywhere at that point and it's tough to see a light at the end of the tunnel and I think that's a big part of looking forward to it and maybe why you go out there and sign somebody from the free agency market now in terms of the free agency market there's not a lot of guys out there and of course there's a lot of guys on your injured reserve you think about what's available and what's on the injured reserve and you look at this and you see oh my gosh what exactly are these names that you're looking at and of the offensive line you're thinking about Marcus Bryan and of course guys that aren't on here Michael Wynjew not to mention all right there's Michael Wynjew and there's Greg Van Roten so you're just you're missing guys left and right but here's what I was trying to pull up the actual free agency chart of who could be available a couple of notes Mackay Becton he was signed to the backers recently Kevin Seatler was signed as well to I believe the Jets I don't know exactly so your top options and the guys that I were wanting to bring up optionally funny enough I wanted wanted to bring up James Daniels and kind of or excuse me Kevin Seatler and so that he was the guy to go out there and get because guess what his pff grades were better than any of the other guys on this list but you put yourself in a position where you have now waited too long you do not have the option to go out there and add Kevin Seatler he's already signed somewhere else so what are your options and who of these guys could be an option well James Daniels is somebody to watch for I think that it's a guy who is not really sound pff why 59.6 71 pass blocking snaps or pass blocking grade last year 59 and the run blocking grade but he only had three snaps last year and he's 30 or excuse me nearly nearly nearing 30 years old so you risk the same thing with him being you know maybe beat up later on as well then of course you also got Alex Coppa maybe he's an option because on this list on the Raiders you know relatively still young he's 31 but his pff grades aren't exactly solid as well 53.5 57.6 53 and then over 500 snap counts at the benefit that he brings in there so you've kind of lost your mojo here in regards to what you can bring in because the top two guys and listening guys that I would have said you needed to sign are gone now Seatler and Becton have now signed respective contracts elsewhere and you put yourself in a tough spot and so I hope Ben Brown works out I think he's the better option but again the depth there is just a little tough you've got some guys in the practice squad you can bring up and have as backup options but you're putting yourself even more than you already were and so I'm a little worried we'll wait and see how this kind of transpires and plays out for now that we will see exactly what transpires in terms of any signings and we'll keep you updated peace out we'll say peace out for now