The Patriots placed starting left guard Cole Strange on Monday, officially ending his season with three games remaining.
Strange suffered a knee injury in last Sunday’s loss to Kansas City and had to be carted off the field. The 25-year-old started all 10 games he appeared in this season and battled knee trouble throughout the year. Strange missed most of training and camp and then three games in October with separate knee issues.
On Monday morning, Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Strange had been enjoying the best stretch of his young career.
“The more he’s been able to stay on the field, the better he’s gotten,”Belichick said. “I think he’s played better through the more recent weeks of the season. He missed quite a bit of time there early in the year in training camp, which slowed him down. But, I think he’s been playing his best football lately.”
Prior to Sunday’s game, Strange had now allowed a single pressure in pass protection for two straight games. The 25-year-old started every game last season, when he was benched multiple times as a first-round rookie. Strange improved his run-blocking significantly this year, per Pro Football Focus grades.
Pats center David Andrews revealed post-game that Strange initially refused that cart that took him off the field.
“Any time you see a cart come out there, that’s tough,” Andrews said. “It unfortunately is part of the deal (when) you sign up to play this game. Cole’s a tough kid. He was mad that they were bringing the cart out. He wanted to walk, and they kind of told him that wasn’t an option.”
The Patriots replaced Strange with fifth-round rookie Atonio Mafi who allowed one hurry in 19 snaps, including six taken in pass protection. Mafi has appeared in nine games this season and made four starts. He projects as Strange’s replacement for the rest of the season.
On Sunday, the Pats also lost backup left tackle Conor McDermott to a head injury. It’s unclear if he or starting left tackle Trent Brown will be available for the team’s upcoming game at Denver this weekend.