While the impressive outing by Drake Maye (more so on the eye test than the stat sheet) is the major takeaway from the Patriots' 14-13 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, the team's tackle situation continues to be a major red flag with the regular season inching ever closer. Chuks Okorafor again struggled, especially on the opening drive, and while Vedarian Lowe certainly looked better than he did against Carolina, it still wasn't that much of an improvement. Even then, Jerod Mayo made it a point to say there's a dramatic drop off from the top OL unit to the two secondary units (duh), but specifically when it comes to "knowing what to do."
However, the one guy at the tackle position who continues to look impressive is third-rounder Caedan Wallace out of Penn State. For the second preseason game in a row, he certainly impressed a ton, notably making a great second-level block to help secure Maye's read option score, despite spending time at both tackle spots.
As true as Mayo said about the second and third offensive line units, they cannot go into Cincinnati Week 1 with a Lowe-Okorafor tackle tandem at their current performance level, regardless of who starts under center.
Wallace, while a majority right tackle at Penn State due to the presence of Jets' first-rounder Olu Fashanu on those same teams, has clearly demonstrated some good showings in pass protection on both sides of the line so far, and I believe if you're going to take a tackle with a Top-75 draft pick, you owe it to yourself to give him a shot. What exactly does this team have to lose, committing to him protecting Brissett's/Maye's blindside this year? It's kind of like with Maye last night, benefiting greatly from getting those extended meaningful reps; this is exactly the same case with Wallace, who should be bumped up to Left Tackle No. 1 on this roster.
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