FOXBORO -- The Patriots and coach Bill Belichick have preached the cliched "next man up" mantra for years. On Saturday, it was put into practice as the team went to work without its No. 1 center and top interior lineman Bryan Stork.
Stork did not finish practice on Friday, but up until that point, he had been dominant in one-on-one drills and a fixture in front of Tom Brady throughout training camp. His absence opened up opportunities for a pair of his teammates on the offensive line -- Josh Kline and David Andrews -- while giving Brady's protection a relatively inexperienced look at times.
Both Kline and Andrews have played center in the past at different levels. Kline has seen time only as a reserve guard in his first two seasons with the Patriots, but he manned the center spot in high school and played all five offensive line positions on college. Andrews, an undrafted rookie, was one of the top centers to come out of his high school class and played center for four years at the University of Georgia.
Because veteran interior offensive lineman Ryan Wendell remains on the physically unable to perform list, there doesn't appear to be any clear-cut backup to Stork. Kline has more experience in the Patriots system -- he's played in 16 career games, including a start at right guard in last year's AFC Championship Game -- but he and Andrews have seen the same number of regular season snaps at center: zero.
Kline explained on Saturday that he has tried to be prepared for a potential change in position throughout his still-young NFL career.
"Always I take center-QB snaps every day before practice," Kline said. "You always gotta be ready. You never know what goes on. It's like a game situation. You don't know who goes down, if you're the next man, you gotta be able to step into any position they ask you to."
Both players acknowledged that things can change working from Brady to Jimmy Garoppolo and vice versa. The silent count may change. The snap technique may be slightly different. But they're open to doing whatever will make a given signal-caller comfortable.
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"I just do what they're asking," said Andrews, who was worked out personally by Belichick during the pre-draft process. "If they want it this way, I'm going to try to do it this way. If they want it on a silver platter, that's how I'll get it back there. Just doing what's asked of me. Just want to be the best center or whatever it is I'm asked to be."
Like Kline, Andrews has seen some snaps at guard as well. While it's a position that's new to him, there are some similarities to what the Patriots do at guard and at center. With Dan Connolly retired and Wendell out -- both players could play all three interior spots -- it makes sense that the team would try to find a player or two who can swing from one spot to the other.
It provides the team with some depth, and though the Patriots won't want to go without Stork for any extended period of time, having versatile interior linemen can help guard the offense against the effects of injury.
"There are a lot of similarities between those two positions, with obviously the big difference being the ball, and that is a big difference," Belichick said before Saturday's practice. "They’re both interior positions. Sometimes there’s a center bubble, sometimes there’s a guard bubble, sometimes the center is covered, sometimes the guard is covered. Whichever one you play, it’s similar, and you’re working with that other player. There are a lot of combination blocks between the center and the guard, so again there is a lot of carryover there. The ball is a big difference and the exchange and the cadence and all that . . . I’d say physically the characteristics are similar."
It's unclear just how long the Patriots will forge ahead in camp without Stork, but if they are forced to continue to use Kline and Andrews, it could have a trickle-down effect on the rest of the offensive line. With rookie fourth-round picks Tre' Jackson and Shaq Mason getting the majority of the playing time at right and left guard, there would be great value in having an experienced presence at center helping them get organized.