Bill Belichick offers few assurances on Patriots' offensive line disorder

BOSTON -- The preseason is over, and the regular season is fast approaching ... which may not be the best news for the New England Patriots.

With new offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien tasked with breathing new life into Mac Jones and the New England offense, the task has been nearly impossible this summer due to issues along the offensive line. Trent Brown got a late start, Cole Strange got hurt early in camp, Mike Onwenu didn't get on the field until last week, and the right tackle spot has seen a rotating cast of players who may or may not be able to play the position well at the NFL level. An injury in Friday night's preseason finale to Riley Reiff -- who was signed as a veteran tackle but moved to guard after his tackle play left a lot to be desired -- capped off what has been a rough summer for the unit.

Now, the Week 1 opener is less than two weeks away, and questions remain about the health and status of the offensive line. When speaking to reporters Monday morning, Bill Belichick didn't offer much detail on the statuses of several key linemen.

Belichick was asked if Reiff's injury might be a long-term issue, after he had his right leg rolled up on during Friday's game.

"Yeah I think that's another one we're going to kind of have to wait and see on here, see how it progresses over the next few days and we'll have a better read on it then," he answered.

Belichick was also asked if Onwenu and/or Strange will be ready for Week 1.

"Yeah, we'll see," he said. "We'll just take it day by day."

Tackle Calvin Anderson, who signed with the Patriots in the offseason, has been on the non-football injury list for the entirety of training camp and the preseason. Might he be able to join the active roster when decisions are due on Tuesday?

"Not sure," Belichick said. "We'll see how that goes. Again, we'll continue to monitor his situation, and when he's medically cleared, then we would have a decision to make. Until he's medically cleared, then he's not medically cleared. We'll see."

The O-line has been a sore spot for the majority of the summer, which reportedly led to the Patriots not playing Mac Jones in the third and final preseason game. The issues led to an unproductive preseason, during which the Patriots ranked dead last in the NFL by a significant margin in yards per game at just 162.7. The Rams were second-worst in that category, but they still averaged 52.6 more yards per game than New England. Specifically, the Patriots ranked dead last with 86.3 passing yards per game and they were second-to-last with 76.3 rushing yards per game. They picked up the fewest first downs of any team in the NFL this preseason while scoring 12.3 points per game, fourth-fewest in the league.

Obviously, preseason stats mean nothing to anybody, and the offense should be much more functional when or if a lineup of Brown, Strange, David Andrews, Onwenu and some right tackle is on the field at the same time. We've just yet to see it.

Given that precarious state, the team has scrambled to add two more linemen to the mix, trading for Tyrone Wheatley Jr. (who at 26 years old has never played in an NFL game) and Vederian Lowe (who took 33 offensive snaps last year as a rookie).

After those late-summer moves, Belichick was asked during his appearance on WEEI's Greg Hill Show why the team didn't address the line before the season. He pushed back on the assertion that the front office didn't try to build a proper O-line.

"Well, we drafted three players on the offensive line. Not really sure what you're referring to," Belichick said. "We signed Riley Reiff, we drafted three players on the offensive line. Andrews, Trent Brown, Onwenu and Strange are all returning, they're returning starters for us. And we drafted three players and signed one, so I'm not really following you."

The Patriots did select Jake Andrews (fourth round, 107th overall), Sidy Sow (fourth round, 117th overall) and Atonio Mafi (fifth round, 144th overall). Sow started his collegiate career as a tackle but moved to guard, and he's now seemingly in line to start at right tackle for the Patriots. 

The team notably didn't make a move to take any of the higher-rated tackle prospects like Paris Johnson, Peter Skoronski or Darnell Wright, and they traded down out of the 14th spot to allow Pittsburgh to draft tackle Broderick Jones.

Instead, the Patriots signed Reiff and Calvin Anderson to supplement Conor McDermott. Reiff didn't play well at tackle, eventually getting moved to guard in the absence of Onwenu. McDermott appeared to be in line to be the starter but he suffered an injury midway through the summer. And Anderson remains on the aforementioned non-football injury list, with an unknown status for the season.

While the team may be able to patch things together at right tackle, the offense will be reliant on Brown to be healthy and effective for 17 games at left tackle in order for the season to have a chance of succeeding.

It's certainly a tightrope situation for New England, and with less than two weeks until the real games begin, we don't know much about 60 percent of the starting offensive line beyond "we'll see."