Patriots provide update on roles of two promising offensive linemen

FOXBORO — Time is running out in the 2024 season for Patriots offensive linemen Cole Strange and Caedan Wallace to return from injuries.

Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo and offensive line coach Scott Peters didn’t want to put a timetable on either player’s return but the team does seem hopeful that both players can return to the field this season.

Strange, who’s been focusing on switching from guard to center in his return to the field, is on the 53-man roster after being activated from the PUP list earlier this month. He tore his patellar tendon over a year ago in Week 15 of the 2023 season.

“He’s quick, he’s strong, he’s athletic, he can pull, a smart guy,” Peters said Friday about what he likes about Strange at center. “He can run the show there. I think it’s for him, he has all the attributes you want. I think it’s just kind of now refining and getting him more comfortable.”

Strange primarily played guard and tackle in college at Chattanooga before being selected by the Patriots in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft. He did take some snaps at center in the 2022 Senior Bowl, but in two seasons with the Patriots, he’s only played left guard.

The Patriots currently have rookie fourth-round pick Layden Robinson in that spot, and the team’s highest-paid offensive lineman, Mike Onwenu, at right guard. Ben Brown was been the team’s top center since being signed off the Raiders’ practice squad in October.

Wallace, the team’s 2024 third-round pick, is still on injured reserve with an ankle injury suffered in Week 4, but he has been back at practice since Dec. 9. Peters said the team is getting him comfortable at right tackle, his college position, before integrating him on both sides.

Wallace played four games this season at left tackle and jumbo tight end before getting injured. The team has been starting Demontrey Jacobs for most of the season at right tackle.

“He’s looking better too,” Peters said of Wallace. “You spend quite a bit of time off, you get injured, and your body has to get back. You kind of have to harden your body a little bit. But he’s been incrementally taking more reps, so he’s looking better and better.”

Ideally, the Patriots would like to see what they have in Strange and Wallace for the 2025 season before this year is over. But they have just three more games left in the season, and Mayo implied the team would be sticking with Vederian Lowe, Robinson, Brown, Onwenu and Jacobs as their top unit Sunday against the Bills.