Injuries are a part of the NFL. They happen, and that's why solid depth is essential to every NFL team at every position. The only position that may be somewhat exempt is the quarterback. Usually, teams are fortunate if they have one good one. Yet, occasionally, as with Tom Brady and the 49ers' Brock Purdy, they may stumble upon one who turns into gold.
Other NFL positions require redundancy, though. Injuries will happen to every team, and if you've left your team short, you're in trouble. In free agency, due diligence is the name of the game, especially when signing free agents who are paid hefty salaries. This season, the Patriots signed Stefon Diggs, who is recovering from ACL surgery.
Last week, Morgan Moses, the presumptive starting right tackle, shared that he had surgery in the offseason and is taking it slow at OTAs. While the injury seems relatively minor, the hope is that the team did due diligence before signing the big tackle and are confident he'll be ready for game one.
Morgan Moses should be ready to go for the Patriots in Week 1
The report on Moses was filed by ESPN's top Patriots reporter, Mike Reiss, in a recent article, who revealed Moses had to say about his recovery going into the third week of OTAs.
"Veteran right tackle Morgan Moses, who was signed to a three-year, $24 million contract in free agency, shared that he is returning from offseason knee surgery. That explained why he didn't participate in full-team drills during practice. "Just pacing things out," he said. "Moses, 34, played through a knee injury last season, which he initially sustained in a Week 3 win over the Patriots."
Any injury that is limiting is of concern, no matter how minor it may be, if you're counting on the player to upgrade a position that was ill-manned the previous season. Since Moses is being counted on significantly to help upgrade one of, if not the worst, Offensive Lines in the NFL last season, that qualifies as an issue to watch.
Why Moses' injury shouldn't be a major concern
Any injury to a key player that impacts their mobility, especially if they're a 34-year-old veteran of the NFL trenches, has to be of some concern. Yet, this is the Mike Vrabel era in Foxborough, and due diligence is indeed a matter of course now, even if it wasn't in the past.
Vrabel is a pro's pro, and he's not going to waste valuable cap space on an injured veteran, unless the injury is deemed relatively minor. Vrabel must feel Moses will be ready to help lead a drive that some feel (and more all the time!) could end up in a playoff berth.
That situation alone should provide comfort to Patriot Nation that the uber-reliable and capable Moses will be manning the right side tackle position when Drake Maye gets under center (or in the backfield) on week one.
Mike Vrabel is the man in command, the ultimate safety valve for decisions of this sort, just as Tom Brady was for abominable personnel decision-making in his tenure under center in Foxborough. To put it simply, trust in Mike. He's in control, and everything has changed as a result. Everything.