Coming out of their preseason opener against the Indianapolis Colts, the New England Patriots made some changes to their roster.
In light of some injuries along the offensive line, they signed free agents Darrian Dalcourt and Joe Michalski on Saturday. In corresponding moves, the team placed fellow O-lineman Andrew Rupcich on injured reserve and released long snapper Niko Lalos. In addition, running back Terrell Jennings was waived from injured reserve with an injury settlement.
Let’s dissect what the moves mean for the Patriots.
Hits keep coming along the O-line
The Patriots’ interior offensive line had already been relatively thin, but the preseason opener delivered a significant blow to its depth. Not only will nominal No. 4 Ben Brown miss multiple weeks after leaving the Colts game in the first quarter, Andrew Rupcich getting placed on season-ending injured reserve removes the projected No. 5 from the equation as well.
As a consequence, the group now looks as follows:
Interior offensive line (10): Alijah Vera-Tucker (75 | LG), Jared Wilson (55 | C), Mike Onwenu (71 | RG), Ben Brown (77), James Hudson III (51), Mehki Butler (63), Jacob Rizy (64), JonDarius Morgan (69), Darrian Dalcourt (—), Joe Michalski (—)
The starting trio of Alijah Vera-Tucker, Jared Wilson and Mike Onwenu looks good on paper, while Brown is a proven and versatile backup. However, the rest of the group is a question mark particularly with Brown set to at least miss the remainder of the preseason and Rupcich out for the year. The Patriots need to quickly find somebody to step up and possibly challenge for the fifth spot.
On paper, James Hudson and Mehki Butler are best positioned to be that somebody.
Throwing-at-the-wall approach up front
Darrian Dalcourt entered the NFL as a rookie free agent in 2024, and spent time with four teams — Baltimore, Washington, Carolina, Cleveland — before coming to New England. Joe Michalski went undrafted last year and after one season on Denver’s practice squad has now found his way to Foxborough as well. Neither has appeared in a non-preseason game at the pro level.
Both have decent size, but their careers so far show that they should not be trusted to suddenly step in and compete for the top backup interior spots on the roster. If anything, the team is using the “throw it at the wall and see what sticks” approach at the moment.
Caleb Lomu factor
After the Patriots selected offensive tackle Caleb Lomu in the first round of this year’s draft, executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf spoke highly about his flexibility and how the team could even envision him playing inside. That has indeed happened in practice, if only for a handful of reps.
That said, with the interior situation murky and Lomu not in line to start for the Patriots this season — Will Campbell and Morgan Moses are locked into the left and right tackle jobs, respectively — the club might reconsider his role. If nobody else is able to provide proper depth behind Alijah Vera-Tucker, Jared Wilson and Mike Onwenu, maybe the team will turn to the 21-year-old.
Lomu will be on the 53-man roster anyway, but his value in 2026 might prove higher should he also be a candidate to offer guard and even center depth. This, in turn, could be bad news for James Hudson, Mehki Butler and the other depth interior linemen.
Another player out for the year
With Rupcich going to IR, the Patriots now have five players on the list who are ineligible to be reactivated at a later point and therefore out for the season:
Injured reserve (5): TE Julian Hill, WR Jimmy Kibble, WR Jeremiah Webb, RB Myles Montgomery, OL Andrew Rupcich
The list would be six long had Terrell Jennings not been let go with an injury settlement on Saturday. This, however, did open the door for him to possibly rejoin the club at a later point in time.
Long snapper competition over, again
To be fair, it was never much of a competition to begin with. But one could dream, right?
Fact is, with Niko Lalos now being cut by the Patriots for a second time this offseason, Julian Ashby is the only long snapper remaining on the roster. Unless his previous ankle injury or another ailment keeps him out for extended stretches of time, or he somehow forgets how to snap the football, he will be the team’s snapper for a second straight season — as had been the expectation throughout the offseason even after Lalos was signed twice.