The Patriots’ offensive line picture has gotten messy fast, and that may push Caleb Lomu into a role nobody had planned on.
New England was already dealing with uncertainty on the interior behind Mike Onwenu, Jared Wilson, and Alijah Vera-Tucker. Then the situation worsened in a hurry.
Andrew Rupcich went down with a season-ending lower-body injury in the preseason tie with the Indianapolis Colts, and he had been viewed as one of the first options off the bench and key insurance behind the injury-prone Vera-Tucker. On top of that, backup IOL Ben Brown is also out, and it could be some time before he’s back.
That leaves the Patriots short on answers, which is why moving Lomu inside has become a real possibility. Head coach Mike Vrabel did not rule out shifting the first-round pick to guard.
“Yeah, you certainly could. I think we just, 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.
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,” said Vrabel.
Lomu has already turned heads in camp. He looked ahead of schedule while making the move from the left side to the right side of the line, though beating Morgan Moses for the starting tackle job was always a steep climb.
The bigger issue now is whether New England asks him to make another switch. Tackles and guards don’t always translate cleanly, and Vrabel’s own comments made clear that the team is weighing how much of an adjustment that would be.
Still, Lomu has handled whatever has been thrown at him, including snaps at guard and even work as a jumbo tight end in training camp. He hasn’t pushed back.
He just wants to play.
The Patriots also brought in Joe Michalski and Darrian Dalcourt after Rupcich’s injury, but neither looks like a real fix. They may not even survive final cuts.
Michalski entered the league in 2025 as an undrafted free agent out of Oklahoma State, signed with the Denver Broncos, and never appeared in a game. Dalcourt went undrafted out of Alabama in 2024 and has already bounced through practice squads with the Ravens, Commanders, Panthers, and Browns.
For rookie linemen, the NFL is a tough enough landing spot without asking them to learn a new position on the fly. But Lomu’s versatility gives the Patriots some cover, and Vrabel’s willingness to consider the move says plenty about how the team views him. The original plan may have been tackle, but the fastest path to the field could end up being inside.
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