TODAY, 8:55pm: The Patriots officially released David Andrews, with the move coming with a failed physical designation, per Ben Volin of the Boston Globe.
TODAY, 8:25am: After 10 years and nine seasons with the Patriots, David Andrews‘ tenure in the organization is coming to an end. New England will release the veteran center, ESPN’s Mike Reiss reports.
The move will take place today, Reiss adds. Andrews is rehabbing the shoulder injury which kept him out of the lineup for all but four contests this past season. If today’s news winds up being followed by a retirement decision, this situation will come to a close in the same fashion as Julian Edelman‘s in 2021.
Indeed, Jeff Howe of The Athletic notes it is not currently known if Andrews intends to continue his playing career. The two-time Super Bowl winner had one year remaining on his contract, with part of his scheduled base salary guaranteed. This release will yield $2.68MM in cap savings for New England while generating a dead money charge of $4MM.
Andrews has made 136 combined regular and postseason appearances in his career, starting all but five of them. The 32-year-old has remained a mainstay along the offensive line during his Pats run, consistently drawing positive PFF evaluations. Even if the final remaining holdover among offensive players from New England’s most recent Super Bowl suits up in 2025, though, the team will move in a different direction under center.
Mike Giardi of the Boston Sports Journal recently reported Andrews was seen as a cut candidate during the Combine. Upgrading along the offensive line is known to be a major priority for the team, and that effort will now include finding a replacement center. The likes of Drew Dalman (Bears), Ryan Kelly (Colts) and Josh Myers (Jets) have found new teams in the early stages of free agency. The Patriots may need to wait until next month’s draft as a result to find a new starter in the middle.
New England’s right guard spot is accounted for with Michael Onwenu, and the team worked out a deal with veteran right tackle Morgan Moses on Monday. The left tackle and guard positions are still unaccounted for at this point in the offseason, and the same is now true at center as well.
Shoutout ice dogs
The only good o-lineman and they cut him makes perfect sense just like the L-tackle and WR1 or 2 they signed Krafts are such frauds Brady’s the only thing that made them relevant their true cheap colors are coming out now
Couldn’t agree more
Kraft is a piece of
Chee$e
Onwenu is their best OL by far. Andrews is injured. They didn’t release him to save money. Sorry that doesn’t align with your hatred.
I like cheese. No hate here.
To me, this is an example of why Belichick was more important than Brady. BB just had a knack for finding talents in the rough and helping to forge them into players far better than their salary, which allowed them to keep extending/re-working Brady to keep him well paid while still having great talent around him.
IMHO, Brady is a perfect example of that. How many teams would he have succeeded on? It’s a small number to be certain. Even if he did pan out for some other team rightawya, the ability for BB to continually build with cheap talent around Brady was untouched in the NFL.
If BB was that great without TB12 he’d still be with NE. TB12 won another Super Bowl. BB didn’t even get to the AFC Game.
From google: Bill Belichick’s record as an NFL head coach without Tom Brady as his starting quarterback is 83-101 (including his time with the Cleveland Browns)
Tom built the Dynasty and Bill came along for the ride.
Kinda wonder wtf is plan for O line and never mind WR.
Defense looks much better but you can’t win scoring zero. I don’t see Polk or Baker developing into anything but practice squad bums.
Come home to the Falcons!
You only have a enough cap room for rookies you’re out of contract redo you’re only allowed three per year
Going to admit that I had no idea about the three per year.
Maybe, just maybe, once the QB dominoes fall the Falcons will find someone desparate enough to trade for Cousins. Would require two teams fighting for him though. Not certain how all the cap stuff works out, but I would think if someone would give a 7th rounder and ask the Falcons to pay down $10-15 mil per year or something on Cousins they could get it done. Maybe not even that much if multiple teams are interested. I just don’t understand why it has to be cut Cousins or keep him, as they should be able to work something out with some team where the other team gets him for below market value and the Falcons save some cap space. Of course the Falcons would have to find a cheap backup, but surely they can find someone with a pulse to play for a couple mil.
@uga. Teams are waiting for the falcons to release him. My guess is their plan is to keep him to the deadline someone will have a hurt qb, and give them a better pick. The problem is the falcons have to pay him regardless, so it makes sense to keep him.