The New England Patriots are already dealing with a number of significant injuries on the offensive side of the ball as the regular season winds down, but in Week 15, the team watched another offensive lineman go down with an apparent leg injury as the team hosted the Kansas City Chiefs at Foxborough.
The Patriots officially ruled Strange as "out" for the rest of the game.
In Strange's place, the Patriots are turning to rookie Atonio Mafi to take over starting at guard. The Patriots made him their fifth-round pick in this year's draft.
On Sunday afternoon, the Patriots were driving in the second quarter in the hopes of tying the game with the Chiefs up 7-0 when Strange went down after stepping on the foot of Patriots quarterback Bailey Zappe with just under 11 minutes to play before halftime.
Bill Belichick came out onto the field as they loaded Cole Strange onto the cart pic.twitter.com/cuVEp8EAZj
— Zack Cox (@ZackCoxNESN) December 17, 2023
Strange is a high-ceiling performer up front for the Patriots who has held down a starting guard spot since being made the team's first-round pick just a year ago in the 2022 NFL Draft after starring at the University of Chattanooga.
Fortunately for the Patriots, the drive was unphased by the loss of Strange as Zappe hit tight end Hunter Henry for an eventual touchdown on a gutsy fourth-down call.
Other than Strange, the Pats came into the game missing starting tackle Trent Brown up front to go with wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and running back Rhamondre Stevenson.