The New England Patriots had almost everything go right in their season-opening massacre against the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, the unit suffered a massive loss when Marcus Cannon went down midway through the fourth quarter. The team announced Cannon suffered a shoulder injury and was questionable to return. Cannon was reportedly bleeding as he walked into the locker room.
Marcus Cannon Injury Update: Shoulder Injury, Questionable to Return
Marcus Cannon suffered his injury after going down and landing uncomfortably on his arm. While it first appeared to be a forearm injury, Cannon apparently hurt his shoulder on the play, and the Patriots shifted left guard Joe Thuney over to right tackle. Jermaine Eluemunor came on the field to take over the left guard position.
As of this posting, nobody knows the exact severity of Cannon’s injury. The right tackle appeared to be in quite a bit of pain, but New England listed him as questionable to return. This implies that it might just be a scare and Cannon could be back on the field before long. However, if Cannon’s gone for a while, New England could have some trouble.
Joe Thuney played tackle in college, but has never done so in the NFL for any meaningful period of time. If Cannon misses time, the next tackle on the depth chart is former Arizona Cardinal Korey Cunningham. Cunningham was a healthy scratch for Week One, so New England could choose to keep Thuney at right tackle.
This isn’t New England’s first battle with injury along the offensive line. 2019’s projected starting center, David Andrews, suffered blood clots in his lungs and is going to miss the season. In his absence, New England inserted longtime backup Ted Karras into the starting lineup.
New England drafted Yodny Cajuste in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft, but the rookie has yet to see the field. Cajuste suffered a quad injury in college and wasn’t able to participate in offseason workouts. Because of this, Cajuste is on the Non-Football Injury list and won’t be eligible to return until Week Six.
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