Heading into 2022, the New England Patriots appeared to be on the rebound after losing legendary quarterback Tom Brady to free agency after the 2019 season, and then posting the franchise’s first losing season (7-9) in two decades in 2020.
Behind rookie quarterback Mac Jones, and longtime â also legendary â head coach Bill Belichick, the Patriots won 10 games and grabbed the seventh seed in the AFC playoffs in 2021. Despite losing their Wild Card round playoff matchup with the Buffalo Bills in one-sided fashion, the Patriots ended their season with a feeling of optimism and even momentum ahead of the 2022 campaign. They seemed to be righting the ship.
2022 Draft Stalls Patriots Momentum
And then came the 2022 NFL Draft. New England owned the 21st overall selection, a spot where quality players should still be available, as the Patriots look to upgrade their roster on their way back to championship contention.
Instead, Belichick took that 21st pick and traded it away, sending the selection to the Kansas City Chiefs in exchange for the 29th selection in the first round, as well as picks in the third and fourth rounds.
But after that disappointment came the real gut punch. Belichick used the 29th pick to take an offensive lineman Cole Strange, out of Tennessee-Chattanooga, a school that competes in the Football Championship Subdivision, the second-tier of college football. According to a NFL scouting report, Strange had been projected as a second-round pick at best, with the ceiling of “eventually” becoming “an average starter.”
Pick of Strange Stuns Other NFL Teams
The pick left other NFL coaches and executives stunned and perplexed.
And sure enough, Strange never really caught on in the Patriots offensive line, though he started the first 27 games of his career.
Then in a game against the Chiefs in November of the 2023 season, Strange suffered a torn patellar tendon, ending his season after 10 games, and costing him all but three games in 2024.
Vrabel Gives Up on Strange
On Tuesday, under new head coach Mike Vrabel, the Patriots finally gave up on the former first round pick â one of the most controversial high draft picks of the Belichick era. The 27-year-old Strange was given his release by the Patriots, just three years after he was drafted.
Now, the Cleveland Browns have decided they see something in Strange, and announced Wednesday that they had signed the lineman.
Initially, the 6-foot-5, 310-pound Strange will be assigned to Cleveland’s practice squad. But according to ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter, the Browns acquired Strange “with the idea of being elevated to their active roster.”
Cleveland Offensive Line Needs Help
The Browns are planning on “a long-term role in Cleveland” for Strange, according to media reports.
As they sort out their tangled quarterback situation, the Browns clearly have some work to do on their offensive line. On Tuesday, Cleveland traded a seventh-round pick to the Los Angeles Rams for 6-foot-4, 336 pound tackle KT Leveston, a Rams seventh-round pick in 2024.
“Leveston joins a room of offensive tackles that consists of Dawand Jones, Cornelius Lucas, Jack Conklin, and Killan Zierer,” reported Camryn Justice of WEWS TV in Cleveland. “Lucas has been dealing with an ankle injury he sustained in the second preseason game, while the Browns have continued their efforts in developing Jones as a left tackle.”
Strange now appears likely to get another shot at starting in the NFL, courtesy of the Browns, sometime in the 2025 season.
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