Curran: Isaiah Wynn ready to put bad injury luck behind him originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
One of the least discussed but most important players for the Patriots this season is left tackle Isaiah Wynn. So far in his NFL career, if it wasn’t for bad luck, Wynn wouldn’t have any luck at all.
Taken 23rd overall in the 2018 NFL Draft, Wynn immediately was a standout in his first NFL training camp. Concerns over his size were seemingly erased as he took rep after rep in camp and preseason games and looked smooth and powerful. The Patriots' "next man up" after Matt Light and Nate Solder held down the spot from 2001 through 2017 was in the house.
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Then, in the Patriots' second preseason against the Eagles on August 17, Wynn went down with a torn Achilles and his rookie year was over before it really began. In 2019, Wynn made two starts before suffering an injured toe. That landed him on injured reserve until November but he returned for the final six games.
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Last year, Wynn made it through Week 10 and played 97 percent of the team’s offensive snaps before going down against Houston with a knee injury that landed him on IR and ended his season. Before that, Wynn once again showed why the Patriots were high on him in the first place with a very solid performance for a team that was heavily run-reliant.
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Despite the injuries, the Patriots showed in May that they’re betting on Wynn’s luck to turn. They picked up his fifth-year option, meaning his 2022 salary of $10.413M is fully guaranteed.
I asked Wynn on Monday how frustrated he’s been by the stop-start beginning to his NFL career.
“We play football,” he said. “It’s a game of adversity. You’re gonna have your bumps and bruises and you just gotta push through. I ain’t tripping, I’m enjoying it.”
It’s been more than bumps and bruises. It’s been tears too.
I asked Wynn how he’s dealt with the process of coming back from injury in each of his first three years.
“Just talk to the guys,” he said. “Everybody gets hurt once in a while. We play football. I talk to other guys to see where they are and to get where they’re at right now and just staying healthy. So just talking to the rest of the team has been helpful. Everybody’s been in that situation. We play the game of football."
Has this been more a case of bad luck than Wynn being injury-prone?
“Either way you look at it, I just try to stay healthy and continue to stay healthy,” Wynn replied.
The Patriots offensive line this year is bookended by Wynn on the left and Trent Brown on the right. Brown replaced Wynn in 2018 when the rookie went down and went on to have such an impressive season for that Super Bowl-winning team that he signed a then-record free agent deal with the Raiders for four years and $66M.
Brown was not good in Oakland/Las Vegas. Injured and ineffective, the Raiders shipped him back to New England in March in exchange for a fifth-rounder. Brown reworked his deal to make himself more affordable to the Patriots.
There’s a lot riding on Brown too. Between him and Wynn, the Patriots potentially can have the most potent tackle pair in football. But both players have to buck their recent past of injuries for that to happen.
Fingers are crossed very tightly that they will.
