FOXBOROUGH – The Patriots’ offensive line has already taken their lumps.
And on Monday evening, the team’s front office made a move to rectify the issue.
According to a source, the Patriots signed veteran guard Greg Van Roten to a one-year deal. This move comes after the team lost two of their top backups when center/guard Ben Brown suffered a lower-body injury, and Andrew Rupcich suffered a knee injury. Brown will miss the rest of training camp while Rupcich is out for the season.
Those injuries led the Patriots to have a less-than-ideal backup guard/center situation. In Monday’s practice, the top backup center was undrafted free agent Jacob Rizy, and replacing Rupcich has been 2025 undrafted free agent Mehki Butler. The Patriots’ other top backup guard, James Hudson, has played in the NFL as a tackle but never as a guard.
The 36-year-old Van Roten came to Foxborough earlier this month on a free-agent visit. An 11-year veteran, he’s made 105 career starts in the NFL. This move instantly gives the Patriots more depth as Van Roten becomes one of their most experienced interior offensive linemen.
The veteran started every game played over the last three seasons with the New York Giants (2025 and 2024) and Las Vegas Raiders (2023). Last season, Van Roten played 1,146 snaps at right guard, three snaps at right tackle, and one at left tackle.
Van Roten has mainly played right guard over the course of his NFL career (4,795 snaps) but has also lined up at every position on the offensive line, playing at left guard (1,763 snaps), center (306 snaps), right tackle (three) and left tackle (two).
The Patriots’ backup offensive line struggled on Monday. The group went 2-for-3 in 1-on-1 drills, with Lomu (left tackle), Butler (left guard), and Marcus Bryant (right tackle) losing easily. Rizy (center) and Hudson (right guard) won their reps.
There was notably more pressure from the backup and third-string offensive line in full-team drills. Tommy DeVito was sacked twice by Joshua Farmer and Gabe Jacas. Behren Morton was sacked twice in six dropbacks with defensive tackles Jeremiah Pharms and Eric Gregory bursting through the interior of the line.
This summer, Mike Vrabel has said the Patriots want to cross-train rookie Caleb Lomu at guard, but the coach noted the rookie has had his hands full practicing at left and right tackle.
“What happens is, where do you feel like he can make the most strides, and you don’t want to derail the improvement that he’s making and some of those things,” Vrabel said. “And so I’m probably much like you guys and say, ‘Hey, that it’s not that big of a deal to go from tackle to guard.’
“I’ve got a lot of coaches that probably think differently than what you guys and maybe me think, and that it’s a little bigger deal, but I think Caleb’s been working hard. He’s been trying to improve, but I think at some point we will need to do that as well, and that’s just trying to be fair to the kid and the player as he’s developing and learning this game and this league, and then at some point in time probably have to take a look in there.”
Before Monday’s practice, Vrabel was asked about adding more veteran depth to the interior of his offensive line.
“Well, I think we have to be able to evaluate the younger group and see what they do here this week and in a competitive setting and then also in the game,” Vrabel said. “And then always keep our eyes open to what it looks like around the league.”
After practice, the Patriots made a move to shore up their depth.
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