Early on Thursday morning, the Patriots announced they planned to release one of the longest remaining tenured players on their roster. David Andrews had been the starting center for nearly all of the nine years he spent in New England and one the lone survivors of the dynasty era that will no longer be on the team.
He joins others who recently departed New England who were part of a few Super Bowl wins, as cornerback Jonathan Jones and defensive end Deatrich Wise Jr. signed with the Commanders earlier in the week. It was a rough 24 hours for Patriots fans who had become big fans of those pillar players and will now have to watch them play elsewhere to end their careers.
Although seeing Jones and Wise leave in free agency wasn't entirely unexpected, Andrews's release was, and it creates a significant issue for the new regime to deal with on top of the nagging lack of offensive linemen they already needed to prioritize this offseason.
Moving on from one of their most consistent starters leaves a big hole to fill if the hope is for Drake Maye to have an even better second season. There are already issues with the guard positions and left tackle, so not having a trusted center could mean the Patriots are in bigger trouble than they might have initially anticipated.
Moving on from David Andrews makes the future of the Patriots offensive line more bleak
After witnessing just how bad the offensive line performed during the 2024 season made it impossible for the group not to be a focus of free agency and the draft. That inevitably connected the Patriots to several top pending free agents, only for most of them to re-sign with their teams before even hitting the market.
That has resulted in just one player being signed so far, right tackle Morgan Moses, which certainly solves one of the offense's glaring issues. However, with virtually no left tackle options and the added need at center, Mike Vrabel and Co. have created a new issue they must deal with before the 2025 season begins.
There are even fewer options to fill the void left by Andrews in free agency, which has fans wondering if the experiment of Cole Strange at center last season may have played a role in the veteran's departure. Or the success of Ben Brown, who was signed off the Raiders practice squad in 2024 and re-signed earlier this offseason, might have, too.
If that's the plan, it's a little less scary to think about how they'll be able to put together a formidable offensive line for the season because it's not ideal to go into the draft needing to find at least three starters for a group as important as the offensive line.
There's no clear answer as to what was behind the decision to release Andrews. Many thought he was possibly retiring after dealing with a shoulder injury that ended his 2024 season prematurely, but that has yet to be determined or announced.
Regardless, hopefully, they have a plan they can execute, or the offense will be in a lot more trouble this season than anyone hopes for.