After losing both Ben Brown and Andrew Rupcich in the preseason opener last week, the Patriots’ depth at guard and center went from concerning to downright perilous.
The team tried to address that issue by signing two offensive linemen with zero NFL playing experience over the weekend. But on Monday, the team added a player with quite a bit more experience, signing veteran guard Greg Van Roten.
The 36-year-old Van Roten has been in the NFL since 2012, playing in 144 regular-season games and starting 105 of them. He has started all 17 games in each of the last three seasons — in 2023 for the Raiders, and the past two years for the Giants. He’s missed just one game in the past five seasons.
Van Roten played collegiately in the Ivy League at Penn and entered the NFL as an undrafted rookie in 2012 with the Packers. Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf was Green Bay’s assistant director of player personnel at that time.
Van Roten ranked as the 35th-best guard (out of 81) on Pro Football Focus last year, earning a 70.2 pass blocking grade (22nd-ranked).
In addition to the Packers, Giants and Raiders, Van Roten also played for the Panthers (2017-19), Jets (2020-21) and Bills (2022).
On Saturday, the Patriots signed Darrian Dalcourt and Joe Michalski, neither of whom has appeared in an NFL game.
Brown had been the team’s top backup option at all three interior positions, with Rupcich being next in line. Rupcich, though, was placed on injured reserve. Brown could return at some point, but head coach Mike Vrabel said Saturday that Brown will miss an “extensive” amount of time and will miss at least the remainder of the preseason.
Vrabel had said earlier this summer that rookie tackle Caleb Lomu — the 28th overall pick in this year’s draft — could work in as a backup on the interior as well, but he backed off that possibility a bit on Monday morning.
“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 [preseason] game,” Vrabel said of the team’s need to add guards. “And then always keep our eyes open to what it looks like around the league.”
