Patriots moving Isaiah Wynn to right tackle means one of two things
By Jerry Trotta
The New England Patriots‘ offseason has centered on the clack of clarity surrounding the coaching staff and who will be calling plays on both sides of the ball. With mandatory minicamp in full swing, though, attention can finally shift back to the players while Bill Belichick gets his ducks in a row.
Luckily for fans, there’s no shortage of storylines to cover. The most notable of the bunch? The state of the offensive line and future of Isaiah Wynn, whose shocking absence from OTAs left many to speculate if he’s disgruntled with his contract.
Wynn has since reported to minicamp, which has (temporarily) halted noise of a potential trade. Having said that, the former first-round pick is still all the rage after the Patriots shifted him from his familiar left tackle position to right tackle.
This is by far the most noteworthy development of Pats minicamp thus far and it could only mean one of two things: either New England is trying to devalue his worth before he hits free agency next offseason or they don’t view him as the long-term solution at left tackle and are getting a head start on the transition.
Here’s Isaiah Wynn talking about moving from the left side to the right. He said he wasn’t surprised by the move. He’s happy to do what the team asked him. He also said he is not thinking about his contract. (He’s in the fifth and final year.) pic.twitter.com/NpKIYycwj8
— Henry McKenna (@McKennAnalysis) June 8, 2022
The Patriots have moved Isaiah Wynn from left tackle to right tackle at mandatory minicamp
Belichick has long been reluctant to pay offensive linemen top dollar. During the 2020 offseason, he let Joe Thuney, maybe the team’s best OL of the last several years, sign a $46.89 million guaranteed contract with the Chiefs.
Already ranked in the bottom tier of tackles in the league due to his injury history and inconsistency in pass protection, moving Wynn to right tackle would make his price tag cheaper than it currently is. You can never rule out Belichick trying to save the franchise a few million. In this case, it makes all the sense in the world, as Trent Brown shined at left tackle for the Pats back in 2018.
Of course, Belichick could simply be done holding out hope that Wynn will eventually morph into a franchise left tackle. At the end of the day, he’s played 34 of a possible 65 regular season games over his first four years. In 2021, his first full season, Wynn allowed six sacks and 28 pressures while committing nine penalties, which tied for the seventh-most among all offensive lineman.
Patriots offensive line was Trent Brown-Cole Strange-David Andrews-Michael Onwenu-Isaiah Wynn
— Mark Daniels (@ByMarkDaniels) June 8, 2022
We’re not going to pretend like we know what Belichick’s thinking, but these two Wynn theories feel like the safest bets. Who knows? Maybe the head coach just wants to improve the Pats’ offensive line depth across the board.
Whatever the case, this is definitely something to monitor throughout minicamp and when the team returns for training camp in July. If the early signs are any indicator, New England’s O-line will look completely different in 2022.
