Belichick Called Unexpected O-Lineman One Of Patriots’ Best Players

If you ask a NFL fan about the ultimate Patriots player, pretty much everyone will mention Tom Brady, Julian Edelman, Rob Gronkowski, James White, Stephon Gilmore and Trey Flowers. However, head coach Bill Belichick has something else to say. Belichick says that left guard Joe Thuney definitely deserves to be part of this list.

“Joe’s done a great job for us. He’s one of our best players, one of our most consistent players,” Belichick said.
Thuney did not allow a sack this season, as reported by Pro Football Focus. He is PFF’s fifth-rated guard in the season.

The Patriots offensive linemen did a really good job this season. Right guard Shaq Mason is the third-rated guard. Center David Andrews is the number 5 center. Backup Ted Karras did a really good job in the last couple of weeks.

“(Thuney’s) been a really solid guy for us. All three of those guys inside — Dave missed a couple games last year. Shaq missed a couple games this year. That group’s been pretty solid, pretty dependable, pretty reliable for us — very fortunate, that inside group. When Ted’s filled in, which he has for Shaq the past couple week and last year for David in Mexico against Oakland. He had a couple games in there where he filled in for David, he did a nice job too. We’ve been pretty fortunate in that part of our offensive line,” Belichick said.

Thuney is a third round pick of the 2016 NFL Draft out of North Carolina State. He did not miss a start in his professional career, and missed just 10 snaps in the span.

The Patriots take a good care of the organization, and pretty much everyone can be considered a good player. They did a really good job this season, and they have won great games.