Despite turning 35 years old in March, retirement was never an option for offensive tackle Morgan Moses.
Instead, returning for his 13th NFL season was an easy choice.
“Come on. How can I turn down this opportunity to play football?” Moses said. “My three boys love this game, and they enjoy being out there and me being out there with them and stuff. And so being able to just continue to wanting to be able to play and coming out here and knowing that there’s room for improvement, that’s what keeps you
going.”
After signing a three-year deal with the Patriots in free agency last offseason, New England helped keep the veteran fresh with maintenance days during training camp and the regular season. The plan worked, as Moses started all 21 games at right tackle while battling through injuries — allowing just two sacks in the process.
To help keep Moses available this season, the team is taking a similar approach with his workload this summer.
“We have to know that when he’s giving us a bone and taking care of our bodies,” Moses said. “But we have to have that mindset to know, ‘hey, when it’s time to go, it’s time to go.’ And I think that’s a part of having a veteran team and a veteran presence, but also the willing and the DNA of us just willing to go out there and work every day so we know what we’re getting into, what we want to be. And we have goals to achieve, and so we have to take those one day at a time.”
Due to Moses’ age, the Patriots drafted offensive tackle Caleb Lomu in the first round of the NFL Draft this spring. Lomu projects as Moses’ eventual successor and has been repping at right tackle with the top offense on days where Moses’ workload has been managed .
That included plenty of reps back in the spring as Moses left a practice early and did not participate in mandatory minicamp.
“I’m just getting old, man. I’m 35,” Moses said. “Caleb’s been a big addition to our offensive line and just getting him comfortable and under, letting him understand that we’re going to work together. We’re going to work together, work on the field and in the film room, too.”
Through the opening days of training camp, Moses says he is “feeling fantastic.” He has also enjoyed seeing the growth of fellow offensive lineman Will Campbell while reuniting with former teammate Alijah Vera-Tucker up front. It’s all part of what has him excited about the offense entering Year 2 in New England.
“Just the evolution. Last year, we came into this thing, nobody kind of knew where we were at, and now we got the target on our back,” Moses said. “Everybody knows we got a MVP candidate quarterback and we got some guys that we can spread the ball out to, and we got the offensive line to do things. So, this is year two of the offense, and I think it’s more important to keep on looking at ourselves and not looking at the noise or hearing the noise outside of us.
“I think when you’re one-on-one with yourself and you can look yourself in the mirror and say, ‘Hey, I got better every day.’ I think that’s the surprise in it all.”
