After already suffering some losses in last week’s preseason opener, the New England Patriots offensive line took another hit against the Philadelphia Eagles on Saturday. On the game’s first drive, right tackle Marcus Bryant remained down following a short run play.
Bryant walked off the field under his own power, but had to be supported by members of the Patriots’ training staff. He went straight to the blue medical tent on the sidelines and shortly thereafter had to be helped to the locker room.
The Patriots have since announced that he won’t return to the game because of an ankle injury.
Bryant, 24, originally arrived in New England as the 220th overall selection in the seventh round of the NFL Draft. Serving as a backup at right tackle, he appeared in 12 games as a rookie. He saw offensive action in just three of them, however, and was a regular on the inactives list as a healthy scratch from December on.
Despite his uneventful rookie season, Bryant played a prominent role along the Patriots’ O-line this summer. Together with first-round rookie Caleb Lomu, he served as one of the two primary backups at the tackle position behind starters Will Campbell and Morgan Moses. With him out, the team inserted rookie Dametrious Crownover into its lineup.
Last week against the Colts, the Patriots saw their top two interior backups — Ben Brown and Andrew Rupcich — leave with injuries. Brown is expected to miss multiple weeks, whereas Rupcich was placed on injured reserve and since waived with an injury settlement.
