3 Patriots Who Cost Themselves Their Jobs Against the Panthers in Preseason Week 1
By Jovan Alford
The New England Patriots officially kicked off the 2024 NFL preseason in front of their fans at Gillette Stadium on Thursday night.
Patriots fans got an opportunity to see the veterans, rookies, and new faces, who will hopefully make plays when the regular season kicks off on Sept. 8. They also got to see first-year head coach Jerod Mayo on the sidelines, who is taking over for Super Bowl-winning head coach Bill Belichick.
Mayo secured his first preseason win as New England captured a 17-3 victory over Carolina in dreary conditions. However, despite the win, New England still has much to work on in practice next week, along with a few players who didn't help their cause to win a job on the Patriots' 53-man roster.
Below, we’ll highlight those players who struggled in their preseason debut and what that means for them going forward.
1. Chukwuma Okorafor, OT
The Patriots’ starters didn’t play much in Thursday night’s preseason opener but we got a quick look at New England’s starting offensive line.
Most of the starters on the o-line played well with the snaps they received, but veteran offensive tackle Chukwuma Okorafor would like a re-do. Okorafor is a front-runner to start at left or right tackle this season after signing a one-year deal in free agency with New England.
However, the veteran offensive lineman struggled in the first quarter with a false start in Drake Maye’s first series and gave up pressure on a critical third down.
Maye throws high to Reagor, but he gets both hands on it. INC. Lowe gets beat on 2nd down run, and Okorafor gives up pressure on 3rd down, resulting in a quick swing pass to Harris that ends up short of the sticks.
— Mike Giardi (@MikeGiardi) August 8, 2024
Heading into the preseason opener, Pats fans wondered how much Maye would play, given the state of the offensive line. To the surprise of most fans, New England’s offensive line didn’t play horribly in the rainy conditions, but Okorafor’s miscues could open the door for rookie Caedan Wallace.
That said, it's only the first preseason game, and Okorafor has done well enough in camp thus far to keep a hold on one of the starting tackle jobs. Nonetheless, the narrative can change on the veteran lineman if those same miscues appear in New England’s next preseason game against the Philadelphia Eagles.