The New England Patriots have had a well documented offseason and will be operating with Jimmy Garoppolo under center for the first four games of the season, instead of the incumbent Tom Brady. However, the Patriots have a growing issue that is being overlooked. Their injury report is mounting and has become a massive issue for the 2014 Super Bowl champions.
One of the most prolific Patriots to land on the shelf was Rob Ninkovich, the defensive end/linebacker and Swiss Army Knife of the Patriots’ defense. Ninkovich tore his triceps muscle and will be sidelined until at least October.
To make matters worse, their fourth round pick, wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell suffered a gruesome dislocated elbow in their opening preseason game against the New Orleans Saints and will also be out until October.
This is on top of key contributors like offensive linemen Sebastian Vollmer and Tre Jackson, wide receiver Danny Amendola and running back Dion Lewis, all landing on the PUP list to start the season. In addition to those players, veteran tight end Michael Williams tore his ACL and will miss the entire season.
With an inexperienced quarterback to begin the year, systemic depth and organizational familiarity will be key. While the Patriots have long been lauded for their “next man up” philosophy, this theory tends to work best when the main pieces of the lineup are in place.
Brady will be out for four games, Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski are incredible talents, but injury prone, and the team already traded Chandler Jones.
While it is unwise to challenge the ability of head coach Bill Belichick to make this work, the team will be sending lots of spare parts to protect and support a quarterback with 188 passing yards passing and a touchdown in his young NFL career. The Patriots should begin to feel concerned about their immediate depth as the regular season inches closer.