The Patriots’ offensive line has been forced into constant adjustment this season, and the injuries have piled up fast enough to make another move feel like more than just a possibility.
New England has already lost Mike Onwenu for the year after his Week 3 leg injury. Greg Van Roten stepped in, then landed on IR himself with a thigh injury. Alijah Vera-Tucker also ended up on IR after a hamstring injury, and while that issue is not expected to finish his season, multiple reports say he’ll need significant time off.
The damage hasn’t been limited to the interior. Will Campbell missed time against the Raiders, and Marcus Bryant sat out the first eight games of the season.
To keep the line afloat, the Patriots signed veteran Matt Pryor to a one-year deal. Walter Rouse and Ben Brown have also taken turns at left guard in Vera-Tucker’s absence, though Brown has been used more sparingly because of his center flexibility.
Rouse, meanwhile, was benched at halftime in Brown’s favor. New England then scored 21 points in the second half after managing only a field goal over the first two quarters, so Brown getting the nod at left guard would not come as a surprise.
Even with that patchwork approach holding up reasonably well, the Patriots could still use another veteran piece. If they want more stability on the interior, the trade market offers a name that fits: Packers guard Kevin Zeitler.
Zeitler would bring exactly the kind of immediate help New England has been chasing. Last season with the Titans, he played 909 snaps at right guard and started 16 games after signing a one-year deal. He was penalized four times, earned a 74.5 PFF grade and gave up four sacks, but his 2.7% pressure rate was among the best in the league.
That production didn’t lead to a big free-agent market, and Zeitler eventually landed with Green Bay at the end of September as a backup. He hasn’t played a snap for the Packers. Travis Glover has handled the spot, and when Glover missed Week 8, Laken Tomlinson filled in.
The catch is that Zeitler is almost entirely a right guard. Of his 14,407 career snaps, 14,403 have come there, so he doesn’t offer much positional flexibility. At nearly 37, he’s clearly a short-term answer, but that kind of stopgap still has value.
Because he sits so low on Green Bay’s depth chart, the Packers would have reason to move him if a pick is on the table. The Patriots have the kind of draft capital to make that happen, holding six sixth- and seventh-round picks over the next two seasons. Mike Vrabel has already shown he’s willing to spend late-round picks on depth, as he did with Corey Kiner and Rouse at the end of August.
If New England did strike a deal, Zeitler could step into his preferred right guard role, with Pryor shifting to the left side, where he has 126 career snaps. Another possibility would be asking Zeitler to make a late move to left guard in what could be the final season of his career.
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So far, the transition has mostly held together. The group has avoided giving up a touchdown, but there have been some issues in kick coverage, which has kept the attention on a phase that usually flies under the radar unless something goes wrong. For the Patriots, the bigger picture is still about developing a young special teams roster while trying to keep the operation steady enough to avoid the kind of hidden-yardage problems that can swing a game. [Read more 🡒]
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DeMario Douglas Is Making Patriots Free Agency Much Harder
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The timing only adds to the intrigue because Douglas is headed for unrestricted free agency after the season. For a team that needs dependable pass-catchers and has watched its receiving room get stretched thin, his recent surge is the kind of development that can complicate everything from roster planning to contract talks, especially if this version of Douglas proves to be the one New England is getting going forward. [Read more 🡒]