Bill Belichick Unsure On Injury Status Of Key Patriots O-Linemen

Bill Belichick offered no answers Monday to the numerous injury-related questions facing the Patriots’ offensive line.

New England’s head coach said he was not sure whether tackle Calvin Anderson would be able to return from the non-football illness list ahead of Tuesday’s roster cutdown deadline.

Nor whether the injury Riley Reiff suffered last Friday would sideline him into the regular season.

Nor whether starting guards Mike Onwenu and Cole Strange would be good to go for the Sept. 10 season opener against Philadelphia following their extended injury absences.

On Anderson: “Not sure. We’ll see how that goes. We’ll continue to monitor his situation. When he’s medically cleared, then we would have a decision to make. Until he’s medically cleared, he’s not medically cleared. We’ll see.”

Anderson, the Patriots’ first external free agent signing this offseason, was placed on the NFI list ahead of training camp and has not practiced or played since. If he is not removed from NFI by 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday, he’d be forced to sit out at least the first four games.

On Reiff: “I think that’s another one we’re going to 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.”

Another free-agent pickup, Reiff opened camp as the favorite to start at right tackle. But after he struggled there, the Patriots moved him to right guard. The 34-year-old suffered an apparent knee/leg injury during New England’s preseason finale against Tennessee and did not practice Sunday.

On Onwenu and Strange: “We’ll see. We’ll just take it day by day.”

Onwenu practiced last week for the first time after missing all of the spring and most of training camp following offseason ankle surgery. Strange, who injured his knee/leg early in camp, was back on the field Sunday. Their levels of participation were unclear, as all practices after the final preseason game are closed to reporters. Strange and Onwenu started every game at left and right guard last season, respectively. Onwenu also performed well at right tackle in the past, so moving him there is another possibility.

The Patriots made two trades Sunday to bolster their shaky tackle depth, acquiring Tyrone Wheatley Jr. from the Cleveland Browns and Vederian Lowe from the Minnesota Vikings. Belichick said he needed to see how Wheatley and Lowe performed in practice before projecting roles for either newcomer.