There were a lot of bright spots last night in the Patriots preseason win over the Eagles, between Tom Brady looking like he’s in midseason form, to a suffocating front seven and what seems to be a rejuvenated pass rush. It seemed as if not much could go wrong. That all changed when rookie lineman and top pick Isaiah Wynn went down and was carted off with what was described as an ankle injury in the first half. Speculation continued throughout the night and into the next morning when ESPN insider Adam Schefter tweeted that Wynn had torn his Achilles and would miss the 2018 season.
The injury comes to an already banged up Patriots team who has seen the likes of Marcus Cannon, Kenny Britt, Duke Dawson, Sony Michel and so on, go down with injuries. Wynn just further bolsters an already long list of injuries on the Patriots and in the NFL as a whole.
Although Wynn was not expected to be starting on the line this season, he was prepared to take on the role of a super sub as he could play either the tackle position or the guard position. The injury thins out a somewhat decent depth chart on the O-line. The Patriots will now look to LaAdrian Waddle and Cole Croston as the next man up and will also rely heavily on the newly acquired tackle, Trent Brown.
The Patriots have had a rash of bad luck when it comes to injured draft picks in their first years, Easley, Stork, Flowers, Jackson, Jones, and Rivers are just a few names that are on the list.
It will be interesting to see where the Patriots go from here if they in fact trade for another lineman or stick with what they have. One thing for sure, they will take much caution going forward into the final two weeks of the preseason.
