When the New England Patriots signed David Andrews as an undrafted free agent, he was not expected to become an immediate contributor. However, he was thrust into the lineup during his rookie season when incumbent starting center Bryan Stork was placed on the short-term injured reserve list. Andrews started the Patriots’ first 11 games of 2015 and was solid, but had to make way for Stork again once he returned.
At that point, the foundation for a roster battle to come had already been laid: over the summer of 2016, finally, Andrews was able to beat out Stork to become New England’s number one center.