Cole Strange and Caedan Wallace are both expected back at some point this season.
One day after defensive tackle Christian Barmore returned to practice for the first time in almost four months, New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo delivered some more encouraging injury news. While not as immediate as the Barmore comeback, it could have some positive ramifications further down the line.
According to Mayo, after all, the Patriots expect to get offensive linemen Cole Strange and Caedan Wallace back later in the year. Unlike Barmore, the two have not returned to practice yet.
“That’s the plan,” he told reporters when asked on Friday about Strange and Wallace potentially returning to the team at some point.
Strange is recovering from a torn patellar tendon suffered last December. While the third-year man is “kind of in the final stretch of the rehab process,” as the 26-year-old told the Boston Globe last week, he remains on the non-football injury list for the time being.
Wallace suffered an ankle injury in Week 4 against the San Francisco 49ers and has been out ever since. The injury was not considered season-threatening at the time, but it still prompted New England to move the third-round rookie to injured reserve.
Whenever Strange and Wallace return, they will likely push for starting spots at their respective positions.
The former, a 27-game starter at left guard since joining the Patriots as a first-round selection in the 2022 NFL Draft, could return to his old spot in the lineup or make a push for the starting center role. At the moment, those two jobs are held by Michael Jordan and Ben Brown — two players who were not part of the Patriots’ 53-man roster to start the year.
Wallace, meanwhile, moved between what the Patriots refer to as “muscle tight end” and left tackle. In total, he played 70 offensive snaps before his ankle injury. The third-round pick could challenge Demontrey Jacobs’ standing as starting right tackle.
Once Strange and Wallace return to practice, the Patriots will have 21 days to activate them to their 53-man roster. Otherwise, they would stay on their respective injury lists for the remainder of the season.