Star Patriots Defender Reportedly Avoided Serious Injury

The Patriots lost multiple key players in their loss to the San Francisco 49ers but at least one avoided a serious injury.

New England lost David Andrews, Kyle Dugger and Caedan Wallace to injury last Sunday. Head coach Jerod Mayo told reporters that the trio would come into New England for tests to determine the severity of their respective injuries.

According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler on Tuesday, Dugger was still gathering information on his ankle injury. However, the Patriots safety “avoided major injury,” according to initial testing. The 28-year-old is still expected to miss time.

Dugger’s last play was when New England tried to block a point after attempt. The fifth-year safety was carted off the field at Levi’s Stadium. The injury happened on the week following Mayo naming Dugger as team captain. Ja’Lynn Hawkins replaced Dugger for the rest of the Week 4 matchup.

There was no determination on the severity of Andrews’ and Wallace’s injuries, but there likely will be more information revealed Wednesday since New England had a scheduled off-day Tuesday.

The Patriots defense already was shorthanded with Ja’Whaun Bentley on injured reserve, so Mayo might need to rely on inexperienced replacements to fill Bentley’s and Duggers’ shoes.