The Patriots added Calvin Anderson as insurance at the offensive tackle spots last offseason. However, he wound up missing much of the 2023 campaign after being placed on the NFI list during the preseason.
Through to the opening of the season and into November – when Anderson was placed on injured reserve – it was unclear why he unavailable during the summer. As it turns out, though, the 28-year-old was sidelined as he was recovering from malaria. Anderson contracted the illness during a trip to Nigeria, as detailed by Christopher Price of the Boston Globe.
Upon return from the offseason trip in late July – one which Anderson and his wife (who is of Nigerian descent) have made for years – the former UDFA began experiencing symptoms. Rather than beginning training camp along the same timeline as his teammates, Anderson was briefly hospitalized. While he managed to suit up for five of the first six games of the season, his lack of conditioning hindered his performance.
Anderson then suffered a heart contusion in practice, an issue not believed to be related to his bout with malaria. In all, he sat out the final 11 weeks of the campaign, which marked the first half of the two-year, $7MM deal he signed. Ahead of the 2024 season, an adjustment was made to the remainder of the pact; Anderson agreed to a restructure which lowered his base compensation for the year and reduced his cap hit by $990K (h/t ESPN’s Field Yates).
As a result, Anderson is now due a base salary of $1.26MM in 2024. He is projected to serve in a swing tackle role with free agent signing Chukwuma Okorafor in line to start at left tackle and Michael Onwenu set to continue at the right tackle spot he occupied in Anderson’s absence last season. The latter’s ability to suit up for a full season will be an interesting storyline to follow.
As Price notes, there are no previous recorded cases of NFL players contracting malaria. Anderson thus made history last year by managing to play in a limited capacity upon recovery, and remaining healthy throughout the 2024 season could put him in contention for the Comeback Player of the Year award.