Starting center David Andrews will miss the entire 2019 New England Patriots season after being placed on injured reserve Saturday with blood clots in his lungs. That much is certain.
The question of who will replace Andrews has yet to be definitively answered.
Veteran Ted Karras, the team’s top interior offensive line backup since 2016, was viewed as the obvious favorite after news of Andrews’ condition broke early this week. Then, the Patriots swung a trade Saturday for experienced Buffalo Bills center Russell Bodine, who’s started 74 NFL games to Karras’ five.
Which player will take over Andrews’ spot in the starting lineup? Patriots coach Bill Belichick admitted he doesn’t know at this point.
“That’s an important position, and the relationship between the center and the quarterback is, of course, an important one,” Belichick said. “Ted’s done that. He’s been here four years and played a couple games two years ago that David missed. But we’ll see how things work out with the other players on the roster, some of which have just been acquired. We’ll see how it all fits together.
“I’m not sure exactly how this will turn out. Again, we haven’t seen three of the players that are on our roster ever run a play in a Patriots uniform, so we’ll evaluate it as we go.”
Bodine started every game for the Cincinnati Bengals from his rookie year in 2014 through the 2017 season. He started 10 more for Buffalo last season before breaking his leg and landing on IR.
The 27-year-old was the third O-lineman the Patriots acquired this week. They also traded for Baltimore Ravens guard/tackle Jermaine Eluemunor and Arizona Cardinals tackle Korey Cunningham on Wednesday. All three were on the team’s initial 53-man roster.
“Russell’s had a solid career,” Belichick said. “(He has) quite a bit of experience playing center for Cincinnati and then most recently for Buffalo. He’s also played guard in the past, so we’ll see how it goes with the three linemen that we acquired over the past few days and just see how it all works out. But he’s, at this point, one of the more experienced players on our team in terms of NFL experience. So we’ll see how all that comes together.”
With Andrews out, the Patriots will return three starters along the O-line: left guard Joe Thuney, right guard Shaq Mason and right tackle Marcus Cannon. 2018 first-round draft pick Isaiah Wynn will start at left tackle after missing his entire rookie season with a torn Achilles.
With just seven days remaining before New England’s Week 1 matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers next Sunday, it seems likely Karras will at least begin the season as the team’s starting center unless Bodine quickly acclimates this week.
Since taking over as the Patriots’ full-time center in 2016, Andrews has started 57 of the team’s 59 games, including playoffs.
