The New England Patriots were back to work Monday following a weekend off. Ahead of a bonus practice day, head coach Mike Vrabel provided updates on several injured players.
That began along the offensive line.
After being placed on injured reserve Thursday with a hamstring injury, Alijah Vera-Tucker is expected to return at some point this season.
“I don’t think it’s for the season, but I couldn’t tell you what short term is determined by, you know, however many weeks he has to be out,” Vrabel said. “But, it wasn’t going to be this week, so we figured it was going to be at least four games. So, that’s why we made the decision that we made.”
The Patriots did get some positive injury news along the offensive line, as fellow guard Ben Brown returned to practice on Monday. Brown missed last week’s game with a knee injury he suffered agains the Jets.
Vrabel also noted that the team will have to make a decision on offensive tackle Marcus Bryant, whose 21-day activation window from injured reserve closes this week. Meanwhile, offensive guard Greg Van Roten and safety Dell Pettus could return to practice this week as they work their way back from injured reserve.
The Patriots will continue managing their injured reserve list for the rest of the season, with just six return designations remaining.
“The depth that you have at the position or the need and I don’t think it’s something that you really want to make a habit of but we’re in the position that we are,” Vrabel said of managing it. “So kind of figuring out, one who’s healthy. who’s healthy enough to return. Some guys aren’t and then we’ll see where we go with the depth at each position.”
On the practice field Monday, the Patriots managed the workload of several veterans as they were without Rhamondre Stevenson, Marcus Jones, Dre’Mont Jones, Christian Elliss, Robert Spillane, Kevin Byard, Hunter Henry and Morgan Moses.