Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots Injuries, Return Timetables: Cole Strange, Christian Gonzalez, Judon, Bourne

Episode Date: May 24, 2024

New England Patriots guard Cole Strange is expected to be out of action indefinitely due to a knee injury. However, might his timetable for return be underestimated? Host Mike D’Abate is joined by AFC East injury expert Dr. Kyle Trimble to discuss Strange’s injury and his timeframe for recovery. Dr. Trimble also provides injury and recovery analysis for cornerback Christian Gonzalez, linebacker Matthew Judon and receiver Kendrick Bourne. #nfl #patriots Find and follow Locked On Patriots on your favorite podcast platforms: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1c5ZxFm... Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-... And follow host Mike D’Abate on X, where he’ll be sharing the latest news about the New England Patriots and talking with fans — @mdabateNFL Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Yahoo FinanceFor comprehensive financial news and analysis, visit the brand behind every great investor. Yahoofinance.com eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotors.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply. FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning GUARANTEED That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – with any winning FIVE DOLLAR BET! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

How long might Cole Strange be out of action for your New England Patriots? Stick around, you're about to be locked in to the Locked On Patriots podcast. You are Locked On Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello to all of you, Foxborough faithful, and thank you once again for making Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage and also your first listen each and every day. Remember, Locked On Patriots is not only a proud part

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And while you're out there showing some love to Locked On Patriots social media style, please be sure to follow our account there as well at LO underscore Patriots. And Pats fans, today's episode brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use the code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Pats fans, as your New England Patriots continue to progress through OTAs in Foxborough on the practice fields adjacent to Gillette Stadium, injuries are on the mind of everyone, especially the injury to left guard Cole Strange.

How long will he be out? What type of injury did he incur? And what does it mean for his future prognosis? Well, folks, today we've got the man with the answers here to answer all of your questions, not just about Cole Strange, but injured Patriots such as Christian Gonzalez, Kendrick Bourne, Matthew Judon.

He is a doctor of physical therapy, as well as being the publisher of bangedupbills.com, also handling injury analysis for all of the AFC East. Dr. Kyle Trimble joins me today. Dr. Trimble, thank you so much for joining me today. Welcome back to Locked On Patriots. Mike, thanks for having me back on. Glad to talk Patriots injuries tonight.

Absolutely. And unfortunately, injuries are always the name of the game, Kyle, whenever we talk about NFL teams. And the Patriots had their share of injuries last year. It wasn't a pretty season. Four and 13 never is. And injuries were not the only reason for the Patriots' struggles last year. But I think we'd probably be doing the team a disservice,

not to mention the fact that injuries to several key players prevented this team from maybe being a little bit better but hey that's the hand that the Patriots were dealt and now they're going to have to move forward and Kyle unfortunately the Patriots already starting off with some interesting injury news potentially bad injury news and that is Cole Strange. Cole's status got a bit clearer on Tuesday. NFL Network reporting may miss the start of the 2024 season. He actually may be out until the middle of the season. And, of course, folks, we all remember the injury to Cole Strange. Week 15 matchup versus the Kansas City Chiefs.

Cole incurred the injury with just under 11 minutes to play in the second quarter. Bailey Zappi completes a six-yard touchdown pass to tight end Hunter Henry. Prior to the play, Strange suffered what appeared to be a lower leg injury. Now we know that it's apparently a patellar tendon injury. My question to you is, with the ups and downs that Cole has had, the type of injury that he has, are we potentially looking at a time frame that might put his return to the field closer to the start of the season, or are we possibly

looking at mid-season before he's ready to go? Well, mid-season might be optimistic considering an injury. You highlighted how he injured the knee. got bull rushed by chris jones to come up the middle and what happened was strange tried stepping back with his left ankle excuse me left foot and he was trying to keep his leg extended to hold because he was right in front of bailey zappy so he could get the pass off unfortunately when he planned that left leg he tried to keep the leg extended jones got pushed him back in that lengthening under tension, that eccentric attraction toward the patellar tendon, which is the tendon that connects the kneecap down to the tibial tuberosity on the bottom of the tibia or the top of the tibia,

where they connect there. So that's going to be really one of the key points that allow the knee to extend out straight and even bend it there that acts as the kneecap acts as a fulcrum for the knee so you know the quad still could work if it connected there but it wouldn't be as powerful as effective there so when you have that tear you're putting a lot of stress through that very thick ligament and it's gonna take a long time for him to really come back it just there wasn't anything strange did wrong. It just, the tendon, his tendon slash ligament, it was just overpowered and it did tear. So a mid-season return, we're optimistic

because these injuries can take up to a year to return back from. The return timeline can be anywhere as high as 80% for guys come back. Higher drafted players do come back a higher rate just because the talent's there. They're gonna put more time and effort into for guys come back. Higher drafted players do come back a higher rate just because the talents there, they're going to put more time and effort into getting these guys back. But it's not like you can flip a switch and say, Hey,

your first round talent, get back out there and play at the previous amount there. It's just a slow, long recovery because there's just so much demand coming off of the anchor point. And it's when you're asking the quads to do as much as it's doing with extending the leg, it's just a slow recovery. Yeah, great insight when it comes to the type of injury that Cole has had.

And look, from a logistical standpoint on the field, it's important to know that because Cole is at his best as a run blocker. He's a tenacious run blocker. That's what the Patriots saw in him when they wanted to bring him in from Tennessee Chattanooga. And he's done that when he's healthy on the field. He's got that quickness. He can generate sudden impact on power runs and be able to protect those and block for them. And he's displayed an ability to seal the defenders on zone runs.

This is a guy that is very good in outside zone concepts. And one of the things that I'm most disappointed about, and I spoke about this a little bit yesterday on Locked On Patriots, is the fact that he was just starting to come into a situation where I believe he was ready to thrive under Alex Van Pelt. That's the type of offense he likes to run, and he likes to incorporate the outside zone. So unfortunately, it looks like it might be a little bit longer, and that is definitely news to us,

that midseason might be a little bit longer and that is definitely news to us that mid-season might be a little bit optimistic for Cole naturally Kyle my follow-up question is going to be if mid-season is optimistic and we might be looking at even longer could this keep him away from the field for the remainder of the season uh what's the prognosis for him long term at this point do the Patriots need to be worried about that yes and no um we'd want to see how he responds to rehab and i know that he's taking month to month as jared mayo uh had put it and like i mentioned it's a slow recovery mid-season returns optimistic i think he'll come back at some point because they do want to get those guys out there he's gonna probably be an excellent candidate for pup he's gonna probably go through

the whole six weeks i believe that's what it is now because he keep changing it and it might just come down to let's get him out there can he move can he move without pain can he do all the football related activities he needs to uh so hopefully we'll start seeing him at mid-season where he's maybe out to the side doing some extra work and maybe they open up his practice window see what he he can do. Even when he does come back for 2024 season, I would temper your expectations. I would say, hey, the fact he's back out there playing at all would be a win. So don't say, ah, this guy's garbage because he's not playing well.

He's coming off a major knee injury. He needs his legs to stabilize and keep his face underneath and to block effectively. It's going to be tough. It's going to take time to really get that confidence back underneath the leg. It's going to take the ability to really push forward and know that the leg's not going to give out on him. It's a pretty tough injury to deal with and begin with.

It takes an immense amount of force to tear it in the first place. So when you're coming back, especially a high-level athlete like that, just to know that you can trust that the leg's not going to give out on you, again, is a whole mental mind game. So the fact that if he gets out there at all, it's going to be a win for him. We might not see a return to form until 2025, when he has a full season to actually get back up to shape in terms of off-season training.

2026, we might see that return to what he was, that first-round draft pick that they select him on i know that's a little ways out that's not great to hear but it's just sometimes these injuries see year two and year three kind of return back to normal so year one is if you're out there great that's a win to move on yeah without any question and definitely tough news for patriots fans at this point and of course anything is possible on the football field and in the training room we're going to be keeping a very sharp eye on Cole's progress from here on in but the tele-attendants are very serious and when I

heard that yesterday and I saw your tweet first thing that I thought of was this could end up being a little bit worse than maybe Patriots fans are thinking and now hearing your analysis definitely brings that into sharp contrast. And Kyle, I also think it feeds very much into what the Patriots are doing on the field, bringing City So and maybe moving him over to the left. Again, I spoke about this yesterday on the pod. I was against that. I figured that if Cole is coming back at some point this year and he's going to be on the

field, you don't want to move a right guard that graded among the highest in the league last year at the position as a rookie and then move him over and have him learn a new position. But the left side is going to be so vital this year because the Patriots are dealing with a new left tackle. It's not going to be Trent Brown and either Caden Wallace, the rookie, or Chuck Sikora for the veteran are not used to playing on the left side. And either Caden Wallace, the rookie, or Chuck Sikora for the veteran are not used to playing on the left side. They're used to playing on the right.

So you're going to want some continuity and somebody that can handle the load at the left guard position. It would make sense if they're going to move City so over. I stand corrected on my assessment yesterday. That may make a little more sense than I gave it credit for. And, of course, you've got the rookie, Layden Robinson, now. Texas A&M did a great job on the right side there. Maybe he goes in, plays the position he's more comfortable with, and they move City over. But it's looking like Cole Strange may be on the shelf for quite some time. We're going to continue to monitor it. And as we get more

information in, you know we're probably going to have Kyle back to explain it all. You don't want to hear me explain patellar tendon injuries. This guy is going to give us his expert opinion. So, Kyle, thank you for setting the record straight on Cole. And, of course, here at Locked On Patriots, we wish him the very best and hope for a speedy recovery as possible. But, Kyle, it's not just about Cole Strange's injury. The New England Patriots and OTAs right now have their sharp eye on a number of

players that prematurely ended their season last year with injuries of their own. One of the more prominent of those players is former rookie cornerback, now second year cornerback, Christian Gonzalez. Christian's got a brand new number. He's going to be wearing zero just like he did at Oregon. Is it a new beginning and what can we expect coming back from his shoulder injury? Kyle Trimble is going to break that down and more when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues, a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Locked On listeners, I'm really excited today to tell you about our sponsor, Yahoo Finance, because when it came to my financial future, I thought I had done it all. I saved, I researched, I invested all that I could, but I still had a lot of questions,

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That's Yahoo Finance dot com. Patriots fans, thank you once again for joining us here today on Locked On Patriots. And joining me in the hot seat today is Dr. Kyle Trimble, a doctor of physical therapy, the publisher of Banged Up Bills, and also an AFC East injury expert and a great friend of the program. We've had Kyle on several times. We definitely appreciate all of his insight when it comes to Patriots injuries. He's already given you some interesting and maybe even a little disturbing information on Cole Strange, but Kyle, the Patriots could use some good injury news, and it seems like, I don't want to put words in your

mouth just yet, but it seems like the prognosis is going well on one Christian Gonzalez. Of course, Christian was off to a great start last year in his rookie season. Unfortunately, his season cut short after jamming his shoulder in a tackle attempt in the Pats' Week 4 matchup with the Dallas Cowboys. Looked like he was attempting to tackle running back Tony Pollard. First and 10 from New England 25, Gonzalez awkwardly jamming his shoulder. He ends up leaving the game, subsequently diagnosed as suffering a torn shoulder labrum. Christian confirmed earlier this year that he had off-season surgery to repair it, and he also indicated that he believes that it's in the past, he's healthy, he's excited to go, but he had to stop short from saying he's medically cleared or that there are no

problems left. So what should Patriots fans realistically expect from Christian Gonzalez in training camp, in the preseason, and most importantly, into the regular season? The biggest thing I would expect from right now is just knock the rust off. He's been almost a year of football and not because that he chose to stay out it's just because that the fact that they went to go to surgery because that was a smart choice looking at him being a young player as a potential key cog moving forward there so the terror must have been significant enough they said hey let's do surgery and in a lost season even early on they said let's

go get the surgery get him repaired his running the ability to juke and keep up with players isn't really a big big issue it's going to be the hand fighting and ability to tackle that's going to be the one thing that we're going to see him maybe be slow to knock the rust off of and go back to what you said that he's trying to tackle tony pollard it's just unfortunately the way he fell he fell with his arm outstretched that when his hand hit the ground that dislodged the humerus from the the glenoid the labrum and that tore the labrum the labrum is the cartilage encapsulation of the shoulder it helps keep it deep in the sock and keep it from dislocating more often there so they repaired it the chances of retearing were from 13 to 26 percent there are some studies that there show that once you have one

instability event there is a future instability event but i see that more with like offensive defensive linemen where they're blocking more often they have their arms out straight there so i'm not too concerned about gonzalez once he gets back up to speed and once he gets his legs underneath them but it's just unfortunate that it happened i don't see there's really any big problems with them moving forward and just it's unfortunate what happened last year. Yeah, without any question. And that is definitely good news because, look, you're looking at a guy that is known for his lockdown ability to be able to seal off an opponent's best wide receiver.

And he did this last year a number of times. You look at the guys he had to go up against. He went up against Tyreek Hill, A.J. Brown, Garrett Wilson. I mean, these are alpha receivers for their given teams. Three of the guys that I just mentioned are three of the top wide receivers in the NFL. He allowed only 10 catches, 102 yards on the 74 routes for which he provided coverage. So his ability to lock down, knowing that that's not going to be overly affected by this is good news for the Patriots. Where it becomes problematic or where it becomes something that Patriots fans need to keep an eye

on is his ability to tackle. 17 total tackles, three pass breakups, had an interception, and he really, I think he had one of the plays of the year in terms of his own highlight reel, getting a corner blitz on Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts that was a lot of fun to watch I know Patriots fans want to see that type of Christian Gonzalez back it may be a few weeks before we start to see that and he starts to really get his legs and obviously gets his shoulder back under him and he feels comfortable we may not see that type of Christian this year we may have to wait a year to see that type of Christian this year. We may have to wait a year to see that type of production on the field, but just having him out there and in the defensive backfield

is going to be huge. Kyle, it sounds like he's turning the corner and really making strides in terms of his return to the field. Patriots fans still want to know, are there any lingering concerns of long-term issues with this? If they do rush him back to the field or he comes back too quickly, can he hurt it anymore by playing on it? I think they're going to be smart and not rush him back. And the fact that this happened early October and by the time you get to July and they're not going to really be hitting until mid-August, he'll be clear to the point where contact he'll be able to absorb the contact he'll be able to block if he'll tackle do everything he

needs to that shoulder should be stable enough and strong in there as long as there wasn't any additional crazy damage where there's additional rotator cuff stuff where there was a fracture like we've seen with a few other players as long as there wasn't anything unknowingly going on in there he should be good to go and you know like i said the biggest thing is just rust getting his legs back underneath him but that's why training camp is there so i don't have really any concerns with him moving forward there i think it's just an unfortunate situation and once he gets the rust knocked off and training camp he should be good to go week one and he should get back to pretty close to the prior level of performance we saw in his rookie year you Do we want to see him take a leap into the second year,

especially being a former first-round pick? Sure, that leap might come in the second half of the season as the game slows down for him. But in terms of physical ability and chance to re-injure, I'm not too concerned about it. Yeah, and that's great news for Patriots fans. And it stands into reason with what Christian had to say last week when we spoke to him at Gillette Stadium. And he he told reporters I'm just going to do what I go out

there to do if I get my shoulder back right I learn the playbook be around the guys a lot of it is mental and that does feed into what you said a lot of it is mental and just feeling his ability knocking the rust off and getting back to a point where he's not worried about injuring the shoulder every single time he goes in to make a tackle or he goes in to make a move a football move those are things that will take some time but this kid can trust his technique he'll go out there and it's all about confidence and Christian Gonzalez has a good amount of that not overconfidence but just enough to be able to be an alpha on the field and he's definitely going to be needed in that backfield the Patriots defense did a good job of being able to weather the storm of a 4-13 season last year

that defense could have been even better with a full year of Christian Gonzalez we want to see that defensive rookie of the month for September it was his first NFL award the Patriots fans definitely hope that's not going to be his last. But Kyle, I am not quite through with your cross-examination just yet, my friend, because there are a couple of Patriots that suffered injuries last year, and they want to know when these guys will be back and at full strength on the field. One's a defender, one's a wide receiver. Yeah, folks, we're talking about Kendrick Bourne and Matthew Judon, and we're going to talk about them next when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast

wraps up right here on the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Listen up, Locked On listeners. The NFL schedule is out. You want to get tickets to watch your favorite team in Foxborough in their home opener in September against Seattle, but you just can't find an easy and affordable way to do it.

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Patriots fans, thank you once again for joining us here today on Locked On Patriots, talking all things Patriots injuries. And here today is the expert of the AFC East, my good friend, Dr. Kyle Trimble, publisher of bangedupbills.com, and also a doctor of physical therapy and a great friend of the program. And Kyle has already given us interesting information on Cole Strange and, of course, encouraging information on Christian Gonzalez. But there are a couple of other New England Patriots who had their seasons prematurely ended last year.

Inquiring minds want to know. They want to know when these guys are going to be healthy and be able to be back out on the field. Receiver Kendrick Bourne and linebacker Matthew Judon. We'll start with Judon for a second because we'll stay in the defensive mode considering we're talking about Gonzalez, and we'll talk about Judon first. Matthew suffered an injury last season against the Dallas Cowboys, the same game that week four came that Christian Gonzalez went down.

He left the game with 13.45 left in the fourth quarter. He was attempting to make a tackle on second and 11 at the Dallas 25. It looked to me, and even when I watched this in preparation for our conversation today, I don't think he's got his arm caught on a Cowboys blocker. He fell to the ground, remained down. He's holding his elbow in the forearm area. He knew something was up when he went to the medical tent immediately goes back to the locker room and Matthew described it shortly

after it happened when he had the opportunity to speak to the media and he says it felt like a rubber band hit him it was hurting he couldn't really bend it he was trying to get the pads off trying to get the jersey off and he just couldn't it. We now know that he suffered a torn biceps, and he's been on the shelf since then. Now, Matthew's given hints that his rehab and recovery has been going well with a torn biceps. What should Patriots fans realistically expect from Matthew Judon? When should we expect to see him back out on the field? What I expect to see from Matthew Jud on the field what i expect to see from matthew judon is a return to pile of performance i have zero concern with judon returning you know the only

concern if i did have to come up with one is you know how old is he but um i don't think he's that old and he still is playing at a high level from you know linebacker standpoint so like you mentioned he was trying to create a to complete tackle his arm got caught in there and that's going back to like i said with cole strange with that eccentric attraction this time it happened at the distal bicep so it's that tendon that connects for into the forearm from the bicep region so what happened was he was trying to wrap up his tackle his forearm got pushed out backwards or straightened out that eccentric attraction that lengthening of the muscle the tendon tore that area and unfortunately for a distal biceps tear that's not something you can play through you just lose all function

to bend the elbow altogether so i know at the time he had said that he was going to try to come back i think in two months and that was just ridiculous that he wanted to try to do that i mean i applaud him on being optimistic but as a bills fan we heard that from vaughn miller all the time and that act got real old real quick there i'm sure patriots fans could agree with me on that there so matthew jude on being optimistic you know they come back last year he wasn't going to ever come back and the fact that he's well on his way to get back to normal is good the bicep tears are just something unfortunate uh there might be some minor grip strength deficits he might have some difficulty turning his hand initially sometimes hand fighting but we're

talking pretty minor stuff he's still going to go back out there and wrap up tackles and play coverage and i really have zero concern with him i don't want to see him as a bills fan but he's going to be just fine for you guys this year. That's great news for Patriots fans. And look, Matthew Judon, definitely one of the heart and soul guys in this locker room. And he's going to be a welcome addition back into that front seven, especially because of the way he rushes the passer. And of course, as I talked about a couple of days ago here on Locked On Patriots with my good friend, Thomas Murphy, he's a facilitator. He's a guy that's going to make the job easier for Christian Barmore and for Josh Uche and

guys that depend on that type of talent on that edge in order to be able to move and do what they need to do. Christian to take on the double teams, Josh to get after the quarterback and get sacks. Without Judon in the lineup last year, Patriots really suffered. Josh Uche definitely suffered. And look, you're talking about taking away one of the Patriots' core guys when it comes to versatility and adaptability. His on-field awareness is as important as his athleticism

because it puts him in position to keep runs from reaching those corners on early downs. It's not just about what he brings in the passing game. Matthew Judon is also a big-time facilitator in the run blocking game as well, in the run defense game as well. So this is something that is great news for Pats fans. And on the periphery, it's definitely good for the Patriots on the field. He's the face of the franchise right now. When you look at placards for the New England Patriots, it's that number nine with the red sleeves. So we want to see him back out. Hopefully that will be the case. The only thing keeping him off the field, it sounds like folks is maybe a little contractual

dispute. Unfortunately, that's not Kyle's area of expertise. Stick around. Someone who does know a thing or two about contracts and finance is going to be joining us next week. Yeah, definitely mark that one down, folks. You're not going to want to miss that. But bottom line, Kyle, thank you for the update on Matthew Judon. And I know you made Patriots fans smile. And let's see if we can bring it home with a smile today. Not putting too much pressure on you, bud. But another fan favorite that suffered a season-ending injury last year was wide receiver

Kendrick Bourne. Kendrick's injury was a torn ACL. Suffered that in New England's 31-17 loss to the Miami Dolphins. Suffered the injury on the first play of the fourth quarter. He was attempting to secure a third and nine catch at the Pat's 16-yard line, and you kind of knew it right from the moment it happened. And obviously, ACL injuries are the toughest on quarterbacks and the toughest on receivers because of the way they need to play, the acceleration, the cuts, all of that. It's very difficult for a receiver to come back and be 100% as effective as they were before the injury happened. And we've talked about ACL injuries before you and I here

right on these airwaves. And you have mentioned that it does take sometimes months, maybe even a year, before a receiver is back to where he used to be prior to the ACL injury. I know Kendrick is the type of guy that wants to get back out on the field as quickly as possible. Gerard Mayo has said he will not take part in OTAs. I don't think there was anybody surprised by that. I think that's the right move. But when you talk about when we might see Kendrick Bourne back out on the field, do you think it's realistic training camp preseason, or are we probably looking into the regular season

before we see number 84 on the field for the Pats? That's a good question, just because there's some variables going to that we know they tore the acl was there meniscus involvement was there mcl was there car lose damage we don't know any of that stuff and that's what makes it more difficult there and if you have any of that stuff that could lengthen the recovery timeline and affect how he comes back there so pre-season uh that's probably pushing it he might i can't say for certain he won't be ready week one but that's even so pushing because we know the injury happened late october so you're looking at november december january february march april may june july

he it's it's gonna be really tough i i see them probably be a little more conservative especially with them being a young team. They have Demario Douglas. They have Jalen Polk. They have Taequann Thornton. They have a lot of other guys they can lean on right now. If his recovery isn't, I don't want to say isn't going smoothly, but if they want to really be smart about it,

maybe they start him on pop and just let him kind of ease his way in and get him closer to the year mark or at a point where they can say, hey, we can get out there and give them limited reps, I wouldn't be rushing them, especially with all the turnover they have. And his ability to come back and play well, he would be okay on deep routes. He'd be okay on simple turn and catch routes. The problem would be is if he's trying to cross over the middle or trying to juke guys and push off the right knee, he's just not going to have that explosion right away.

We do see the research that the decline in performance isn't all that significant coming off the first season after the ACL tear, but we have seen enough guys that aren't the same coming off the ACL tear and they're just slow to kind of get back up to speed. You know, biggest example recently is Odell Beckham. You know, he was kind of get back up to speed you know biggest example recently is odell beckham you know he was kind of off that first year after he tours uh acl and super bowl in fact he even played the following year so it took him a while to get back up to speed but now he's kind of back up that right you know normal you know odell beckham certainly a lot older it's just going to take time for him um i would just kind of keep watching reports and kind of see where he's

at with what they're doing practice wise with them and then the big things get whether they start him on pup to begin the regular or the preseason and then how they progress him with that there but being that he's gonna be nine ten months you know removed from the injury at week one that's really cutting it close they're not going to bring him back before a week or nine months so preseason is probably out at that point. And then you're probably looking at to ramp up the football speed and whatnot. I'm leaning toward him maybe doing just starting the season on pup just to kind of give him the extra time frame.

You get the extra roster spot and then let him kind of get back out there. And he wants to return. He's not gonna be the top option or doesn't need to be so that he can kind of ease himself back in. So I'm optimistic he's going to return to form. It might take him some time and we'll see more flashes the second half of the season. But why rush him, especially when you got all that talent on the roster right now and you have younger guys you want to develop? That's a very, very good point, Kyle. And I'm glad that you made that because the Patriots right now are looking to break guys

into this wide receivers core. I know it gets a lot of ribbing in the national media and even in the local media for not being up to the challenge, but the Patriots do have some young guys on this roster right now that want to make a name for themselves. Obviously, Demario Douglas did so last year as their top receiver, and he'll continue to be a top option for them in 2024 Jalen Polk Javon Baker two guys they brought in via the draft a lot of high hopes for these guys I think the Patriots have two good wide receivers and two budding weapons potentially for Drake May that can be effective players in this system for many years to come you're going to want to develop them

a little bit then there are guys that are right now on the periphery, guys like Jalen Rager and Keishon Booty. Essentially, Booty will only be there if there is no repercussions from his off-the-field troubles. That's a conversation for another day. K.J. Osborne now coming in from the Minnesota Vikings, he can be someone that I think the Patriots can rely on. So they do have bodies in that receiver's room that can help mitigate the temporary loss of a guy like Kendrick Bourne and allow him the time he needs to come back. But Kendrick is one of those guys that can align at any position and he can win his battles at any position. And you know he's going to be wanting to get back out there as soon as possible.

Good stuff on Kendrick Bourne, Kyle. We're definitely keeping our sharp eye on him. Matthew Judon, Christian Gonzalez, all of these guys we expect to see at some point throughout the year for the New England Patriots. And of course, all eyes will continue to be on Cole Strange. And we thank you for the update on all four major Patriots injuries. Folks, we know there are a lot of other walking wounded in the Patriots locker room. Good news, Kyle is a friend of the program.

He'll be back soon. In the meantime, I want to thank you, Kyle. We always lend your wisdom and counsel the way only you can. We appreciate having you here on Locked on Patriots. Make sure to follow Dr. Kyle Trimble on Twitter at bangedupbills, and of course, follow all his great work at bangedupbills.com. And Kyle, we look forward to having you back here on these airwaves on Locked On Patriots sooner rather than later to discuss the remainder of the walking wounded in the Patriots locker

room. Until then, folks, I'm Mike DeBate, and I continue to remind you to stay safe and to stay well and to be the change you wish to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone, and we'll see you back here again tomorrow on Lot on Patriots.