Healthy David Andrews is looking forward to the season, despite a few changes
"Whatever quarterback is in that room, I try to build a bond with them."
After missing the 2019 season with blood clots in his lungs, Patriots center David Andrews says he’s doesn’t know whether he will have any restrictions now that he’s been cleared to play football.
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“The recurrence thing, that’s something, unfortunately, you can’t really pin down,” Andrews said Tuesday during a conference call. “I’m just going to go about my life, keep playing this game, and doing what I can to stay as healthy as I can. I think it was just kind of a freak accident thing.”
Andrews expressed excitement about his return to the field, even though he’ll be without offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia, who retired in January, and quarterback Tom Brady, who left for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in March.
After four seasons with Brady — the longest stretch he’s snapped the ball to the same quarterback in any stage of his football career — Andrews will likely be primarily working with either 2019 draft pick Jarrett Stidham or veteran Brian Hoyer next season. The Patriots also signed passers as two undrafted free agents in Michigan State’s Brian Lewerke and Louisiana Tech’s J’Mar Smith.
“Whatever quarterback is in that room, I try to build a bond with them,” Andrews said. “Whoever is in there, you try to build a bond because it’s obviously one play away from anyone playing. That’s just the way it is.”
Andrews called Stidham “a great kid.” The pair worked together during the team’s workouts last spring as well as during training camp before Andrews was ruled out for the season.
“I look back on my rookie year and can remember the growth I saw from my rookie season to my second year and how the games start to click a little bit and make sense a little bit more,” Andrews said. “Your first year is such a whirlwind. It’s such a long year from going from bowl games to training to combine to pro day to OTAs, minicamps, all that, to training camp. For a year, it’s nonstop. The growth from your first to your second year is so huge.”
With New England’s offseason program starting virtually, Andrews and his wife Mackenzie opted to stay local, as opposed to going home to Georgia. Andrews said he is able to run and do some drills in his yard, but he noted conditioning and meetings, rather than on-field work, typically dominate this stage of the offseason.
Andrews said he has a level of familiarity with coaches Cole Popovich and Carmen Bricillo, who have been conducting the meetings for the offensive line. Popovich joined New England’s coaching staff in 2016, while Bricillo is entering his second season.
Despite the departures of Scarnecchia and Brady, the line will retain several key members in Marcus Cannon, Shaq Mason, Joe Thuney, and Isaiah Wynn. There were rumblings that the franchise-tagged Thuney, who signed a one-year deal worth $14.7 million, could be traded in order to clear cap space, but the move has not happened.
“Marcus, Shaq, Joe — I’ve played a lot of football with them,” Andrews said. “Cole’s been there for a while and Carm’s been there since last year. Pretty much everyone in the room right now, other than the rookies, have a relationship with those guys and are familiar with them, so I think that helps a lot having those guys that we’ve been around for a long time and have been in our system helps a lot because there’s a lot of continuity there.”
As for what Andrews thinks about the chatter that the Patriots won’t be contenders next season?
“Everyone has an opinion,” Andrews said. “All we can do and control what we can control.”
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