Cole Strange continues to become more and more interesting.
The New England Patriots selected the interior offensive lineman after trading back to the No. 29 pick and Patriots fans were extremely upset. Fans and pundits believed the Patriots should’ve waited to select him closer to the third round instead of using a first-round pick.
Bill Belichick discussed the pick with confidence and said he didn’t believe Strange “wouldn’t have lasted much longer,” while saying the Patriots may have picked him with the No. 21 pick if they didn’t trade back. The immediate reaction from anyone outside of the Patriots organization was collectively negative.
Those reactions should be enough to motivate Strange to work hard and prove everyone wrong along the way. During his introductory press conference on Friday, he discussed the internal place he looks to for motivation.
Strange took a page out of Michael Jordan’s book from ESPN’s “The Last Dance” and invents narratives to get himself fired up — which is incredible.
“I was watching it like oh my gosh, this is awesome. It’s something I’d kind of done, but I’d really never put it into words,” Strange said, transcribed by masslive.com. “He talked about how he would make up these narratives just to get him upset or angry so he’d play with a little bit more fire. I was like, I feel like I’ve been doing that, but I’ve never conscientiously put a tag on it: Like, this is what I do. I guess I just always try to play like that. I feel like that’s how the game of football is supposed to be played.”
“The pettiest thing that you can think of that shouldn’t bother you at all. You just go down the rabbit hole of feeding that wolf and saying, you know what, I’m going to let this bother me. You can let that carry in your imagination. I’m sure all of you can probably think of something.”
Cole Strange said he invents “narratives” in his head to get himself fired up for games.
“The pettiest thing you can think of that shouldn’t bother you.”
Said he was surprised when he watched The Last Dance and saw Michael Jordan did the same thing. pic.twitter.com/PcTbsOBL6u
— Zack Cox (@ZackCoxNESN) April 29, 2022
The more research done on Strange, the more people are realizing that he will make an immediate impact and shore up an offensive line that lost Shaq Mason and Ted Karras.
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