With Patriots offensive guard Logan Mankins not reporting to camp, all eyes have turned to Nick Kaczur as his replacement. Now, there is potentially bad news on the horizon for Kaczur. Mike Reiss reported (via Pats Pulpit) over the weekend that Kaczur may have a "significant back injury that could sideline him indefinitely, potentially threaten his season."
In a press conference Monday, Bill Belichick shockingly actually discussed injuries, touching upon both Kaczur and DT Ty Warren, though the details remained sparse.
'Injury-wise, Ty (Warren) and Nick Kaczur both have missed a number of practices,' Belichick said. 'Both are being evaluated by our medical staff. We’ll see what comes of that. We’ll just have to wait and see until we get a little more information. Otherwise, everyone is day-to-day. We got some guys back last week, hopefully we’ll get some more guys back this week to get us closer to full-strength.'
The injury to Kaczur is significant to follow as we head into the first pre-season game Thursday night, against the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints at Gillette Stadium.