The NFL deadline to pick up the fifth-year option for 2022 first-round picks is approaching.
For the Patriots, their decision was an obvious one.
According to ESPN, the Patriots are not picking up the fifth-year option for Cole Strange. Drafted 29th overall in 2022, this option would’ve paid Strange $16.8 million in 2026. This means the offensive lineman will enter this season in the final year of his rookie contract.
The NFL deadline to pick up this option is on Thursday.
Strange was a controversial pick by Bill Belichick. A standout guard at Chattanooga, he was an expected second or third-round pick. However, the Patriots viewed him as an ultra-athletic lineman who would start immediately.
That’s what Strange did – starting every game his rookie season at left guard. In 2023, Strange made 10 starts before suffering a torn patellar tendon. The recovery wasn’t easy. Strange said last season that he had to learn how to walk again.
Before that injury, Bill Belichick said of Strange, “I think he’s been playing his best football lately.”
“It was very frustrating because I felt the same way,” Strange said last season. “I felt like for the first time being in the league, I kind of gotten into the swing of things. My rookie year, I felt like I got better, and at the end of the year, I was playing better. Then last year, I was injured on and off throughout the year. But then at the end, I felt like it kind of clicked with me. It was extremely aggravating. But it is what it is and here we are.”
Strange returned to the practice field last November and the coaching staff moved him to the center position. He ended up playing in three games, making two starts at center.
This offseason, the Patriots have said they want Strange to keep working at center. Last week, after the team drafted center Jared Wilson in Round 3, Eliot Wolf was asked if that could signal Strange moving back to left guard.
“Yeah, we see versatility as the name of the game here,” Wolf said. “So, we feel like Cole, obviously, has the experience at guard primarily, he got that great experience at center last year, so we feel like he can compete at both spots.”
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Read the original article on MassLive.
The NFL deadline to pick up the fifth-year option for 2022 first-round picks is approaching.
For the Patriots, their decision was an obvious one.
According to ESPN, the Patriots are not picking up the fifth-year option for Cole Strange. Drafted 29th overall in 2022, this option would’ve paid Strange $16.8 million in 2026. This means the offensive lineman will enter this season in the final year of his rookie contract.
The NFL deadline to pick up this option is on Thursday.
Strange was a controversial pick by Bill Belichick. A standout guard at Chattanooga, he was an expected second or third-round pick. However, the Patriots viewed him as an ultra-athletic lineman who would start immediately.
That’s what Strange did – starting every game his rookie season at left guard. In 2023, Strange made 10 starts before suffering a torn patellar tendon. The recovery wasn’t easy. Strange said last season that he had to learn how to walk again.
Before that injury, Bill Belichick said of Strange, “I think he’s been playing his best football lately.”
“It was very frustrating because I felt the same way,” Strange said last season. “I felt like for the first time being in the league, I kind of gotten into the swing of things. My rookie year, I felt like I got better, and at the end of the year, I was playing better. Then last year, I was injured on and off throughout the year. But then at the end, I felt like it kind of clicked with me. It was extremely aggravating. But it is what it is and here we are.”
Strange returned to the practice field last November and the coaching staff moved him to the center position. He ended up playing in three games, making two starts at center.
This offseason, the Patriots have said they want Strange to keep working at center. Last week, after the team drafted center Jared Wilson in Round 3, Eliot Wolf was asked if that could signal Strange moving back to left guard.
“Yeah, we see versatility as the name of the game here,” Wolf said. “So, we feel like Cole, obviously, has the experience at guard primarily, he got that great experience at center last year, so we feel like he can compete at both spots.”
