Back in February, Patriots guard Brian Waters said he would take a few weeks to decide whether or not he plans to play in 2012.
Since then we haven’t heard much of anything from Waters or the Patriots about his plans for the future. Waters has not been participating in the team’s offseason workouts and he’s not at the team’s voluntary Organized Team Activities this week, causing some to think that the Patriots would lose a second starting offensive lineman.
According to the Boston Herald, that’s not the case. Waters has always planned to play this season, his 14th in the NFL, and was merely following the same routine he’s followed throughout his NFL career. Based on that report, Waters is expected to be the team’s starting right guard again in 2012.
That’s good news for the Patriots. Waters was probably the team’s best lineman in 2011 and the loss of Light coupled with left guard Logan Mankins’ recovery from knee surgery means that they need all the consistency they can get up front. Ryan Wendell has been taking first team reps in Waters’ place, although it doesn’t appear he will be needed to take over the position on a full-time basis.