When the Patriots head to Munich in Week 10 to face the Detroit Lions, one player on the roster will be making a trip that feels a little different from the rest.
For offensive tackle Lorenz Metz, it will be a return home.
Metz, who was born in the German city of Neuötting, about 50 miles east of Munich, is one of the more unusual names on New England’s roster. He’s also the tallest player currently on the Patriots, listed at 6’9” and 320 pounds, with 10 5/8” hands, 34 1/4” arms and an 84” wingspan. His athletic testing included a 5.30-second 40-yard dash, a 7.63-second 3-cone drill, a 4.82-second short shuttle, a 25 1/2-inch vertical jump, an 8’7” broad jump, 26 bench press reps and a 7.65 Relative Athletic Score.
Metz’s path to football was a late one. He didn’t start playing until he was 18, and his first stop came with the Kirchdorf Wildcats at the amateur level, where he played defensive tackle. In his lone season there, he appeared in 12 games and posted 48 tackles and a sack.
He then moved to the United States in 2018 to play at Cincinnati, where he switched from defensive lineman to offensive tackle. Over five seasons with the Bearcats, he appeared in 39 games and made 26 starts. He earned first-team All-AAC honors in 2021.
Despite that college resume, Metz went unselected in the 2023 NFL Draft. The Bears initially brought him in as a free agent, but he was released early in training camp and didn’t land with another team until the following April.
Since then, he has spent time with Tampa Bay and New England as a roster exempt international practice squad player. His only NFL game experience has come in preseason.
On the field, Metz brings the kind of size teams can’t manufacture. He has NFL-caliber length, a massive frame and enough strength to survive in the trenches.
He can cover ground with his size, mirrors reasonably well and brings the right mentality for the run game. He also has a solid punch and enough upper-body power to make himself useful.
At Cincinnati, he even logged snaps at both tackle spots and right guard.
The flip side is that the athletic profile doesn’t match the measurements. Metz lacks foot speed and range, and his lateral agility is limited.
He wins more with length than movement, which makes him a tough fit for pull or zone concepts. His height also works against him at times, especially when it comes to leverage and pad level.
Sustaining blocks has been an issue, too.
His 2025 season with Tampa Bay reflected that reality. After spending 2024 on the Buccaneers’ exempt practice squad, he returned on a futures contract and took part in offseason work and camp as a reserve tackle.
He was the third-string left tackle and played in all three preseason games, but his total workload was tiny: 21 offensive snaps, all in the preseason finale against Buffalo, plus four special teams snaps. He was waived before cutdowns, then brought back to the practice squad as an exempt 17th player and stayed there the rest of the year without appearing in a game.
When that contract expired in January, New England stepped in. On January 13, between the Patriots’ wild card and divisional playoff games, Metz was added to the practice squad as a qualifying international player.
That status kept him from counting against the 16-man developmental roster limit. After the Super Bowl, the Patriots kept him around on another futures deal.
Looking ahead to 2026, Metz’s role is straightforward: offensive tackle depth. The Patriots would ideally like him to help on either side, but all of his NFL in-game work has come on the left.
His preseason snaps have all come there as well, though he did play more right tackle and right guard in college than left tackle. For now, the versatility is more of a talking point than a proven NFL tool.
The bigger question is how much more room there is for growth. Metz picked up football late and has only a handful of seasons under his belt, but at 29 he is probably close to his physical ceiling. The expectation is that there won’t be major jumps athletically or technically at this stage.
Financially, his deal is simple. The futures contract he signed in February is worth $885,000, which is also his cap number. Because none of it is guaranteed, he does not count against New England’s books under the NFL’s Top 51 rule.
A spot on the 53-man roster looks like a long shot. Even so, Metz may have a path to sticking around because of his international designation.
That would allow him to remain as an exempt 17th practice squad player, available for practice but not games. With the Patriots set to play in his home country this season, there’s at least a case to be made that New England could keep him in the building after cutdowns.
For Metz, that may be the most realistic outcome again: not a headline role, but another season in the pipeline, and another chance to keep his NFL career going.
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