Next Sunday, in the final game of the 2018 season, Tom Brady will be getting ready to play in his 9th Super Bowl, a number that is hard to comprehend. What’s also impressive is that various offensive linemen who have blocked for the Patriots Super Bowl teams. In Super Bowl LIII, from left to right, Trent Brown, Joe Thuney, David Andrews, Shaq Mason, and Marcus Cannon will be protecting him.
None of those offensive linemen were in the lineup four years ago when the Patriots faced the Seahawks to conclude the 2014 season.
And none of those offensive linemen were in the lineup for the 2007 Patriots team that went 16-0.
And only one of those offensive linemen — left tackle Matt Light — were on the field the first time the Patriots played the Rams in the Super Bowl.
Just in Super Bowls, Brady has played with 3 different left tackles, 6 different left guards, 5 different centers [1]Note that this counts Dan Connolly twice, as he was the Patriots center in 2011 and left guard in 2014., 5 different right guards, [2]Note that this counts Joe Andruzzi twice, as he was the Patriots right guard in 2001 and 2003, and left guard in 2004. and 7 (!) different right tackles. Four of the expected starting linemen for New England in this year’s Super Bowl have started in a Super Bowl for New England before, but left tackle Trent Brown has not. That will make him the 24th different offensive lineman Brady has played with in a Super Bowl.
| 2001 | 2003 | 2004 | 2007 | 2011 | 2014 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LT | Matt Light | Matt Light | Matt Light | Matt Light | Matt Light | Nate Solder | Nate Solder | Nate Solder | Trent Brown |
| LG | Mike Compton | Russ Hochstein | Joe Andruzzi | Logan Mankins | Logan Mankins | Dan Connolly | Joe Thuney | Joe Thuney | Joe Thuney |
| C | Damien Woody | Dan Koppen | Dan Koppen | Dan Koppen | Dan Connolly | Bryan Stork | David Andrews | David Andrews | David Andrews |
| RG | Joe Andruzzi | Joe Andruzzi | Steve Neal | Steve Neal | Brian Waters | Ryan Wendell | Shaq Mason | Shaq Mason | Shaq Mason |
| RT | Greg Randall | Tom Ashworth | Brandon Gorin | Nick Kaczur | Sebastian Vollmer | Sebastian Vollmer | Marcus Cannon | Cameron Fleming | Marcus Cannon |
You really have four distinct sets of Patriots offensive lines.
In 2001, you had Light-Compton-Woody-Andruzzi-Randall.
By 2003, three of those were gone. Light would be there in ’03, ’04, ’07 and ’11, but he was the only mainstay. Koppen bridged ’03 to ’04, and Neal bridged ’04 to ’07, but the ’03 line (Light-Hochstein-Koppen-Andruzzi-Ashworth) was 60% different from the ’07 line (Light-Mankins-Koppen-Neal-Kaczur).
The 2011 line had 60% holdover (i.e., the left side) from ’07, but the 2014 line featured a lot of new faces. That line was Solder-Connolly-Stork-Wendell-Vollmer, who were all appearing in their first Super Bowls other than Vollmer (who started in ’11, too).
But this 2018 line has zero holdovers from even 2014. Solder finally left New England for the Giants this season, but the rest were gone within one year: Connolly retired after ’14, Stork and Vollmer retired after ’15, and Wendell left for the Panthers after ’15.
At tight end, Brady’s starter in the Super Bowl was Jermaine Wiggins in 2001 and 2003, Daniel Graham in 2004, Kyle Brady and Ben Watson were starters in 2007, Rob Gronkowski in 2011, 2014 (alongside Michael Hoomanawanui), 2017 and 2018, and Martellus Bennett in 2016.
There has been a lot of turnover in New England over the last two decades, but only two constants: Brady and Belichick.
References
| ↑1 | Note that this counts Dan Connolly twice, as he was the Patriots center in 2011 and left guard in 2014. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | Note that this counts Joe Andruzzi twice, as he was the Patriots right guard in 2001 and 2003, and left guard in 2004. |