Patriots Offense Tackle Announces Retirement During OTAs

The New England Patriots lost another player, and this time on of their offensive tackles decided to retire. Jared Veldheer’s career with the Patriots was brought to an end before it even started. The offensive tackle told the New England Patriots he plans to retire, as reported by ESPN’s Mike Reiss.

Veldheer started for the Denver Broncos last season, and all but five in his 118 career games. He agreed to sign a deal with the Patriots on a free-agent contract on May 7. The Patriots planned to use him as a swing tackle after LaAdrian Waddle left the team in free agency.

Veldheer agreed to a one-year deal with the Patriots, worth up to $6.5 million. Tuesday was the second day of the Patriots’ OTAs.

Before signing with New England, Veldheer split his nine-year career  with the Raiders, Cardinals and Broncos. He took snaps at tackle spots, right guard and center. After his departure, the Patriots will be left without a single offense tackle who has enough NFL experience aside from Marcus Cannon.

Dan Skipper is the new backup behind Marcus Cannon. Third-round rookie Yodny Cajuste was listed as the third-string left tackle on the Patriots’ depth chart and may go to the right side. Cajuste is still recovering from a torn quad, and may be out of the field until training camp.

At the moment, the rookie is behind third-year tackle Cole Croston and Isaiah Wynn, a 2018 first-round draft pick. Wynn is set to play an NFL game as he tore his Achilles last August. Croston has 13 regular-season snaps.

The Patriots have done several changes to the roster, and they lost several players. The team got an excellent group of players in the NFL Draft, and each of them will probably develop into a big star.

Head coach Bill Belichick and the players are happy with how things turned out for the team. Losing Rob Gronkowski was one of the problems the team had to deal with, and there is still hope that he returns to the field.

Let’s see what happens next season. Will someone replace him on the field? That will be hard.