FOXBORO — The Patriots, who have already started four different left tackles in four weeks, are considering more changes to their offensive line.
During the early portion of Friday’s practice open to the media, top offensive lineman Mike Onwenu, who has started the first four weeks of the season at right tackle, had moved inside to right guard. That flipped Demontrey Jacobs, who started Week 4 at left tackle, to right tackle, with Vederian Lowe back from a knee injury at left tackle, Michael Jordan back from an ankle injury at left guard and Nick Leverett replacing David Andrews at center.
Onwenu was a college guard who has spent most of his NFL career at the position. He also spent most of training camp at right guard before moving to tackle due to injuries before the start of the 2024 season.
“We’re looking at guys in different spots,” offensive line coach Scott Peters said Friday. “We’ve had multiple alignment changes here just because if you look at the injuries and we have to have contingency plans. There’s definitely considerations. We’re trying to figure out what guys can do. Especially with DA’s injury, you have a new center in there, we’ve had guard injuries. Guys are just banged up. We want to make sure you go into a game prepared for all the different contingencies. And last week was no exception. We saw that, and yeah, definitely want to see what guys can do.”
It’s unclear if the Patriots plan to move Onwenu back to right guard just yet or if they were preparing players to play different positions in case of emergency. Offensive line coach Scott Peters did say he prefers Onwenu at guard.
“In a perfect world, Mike is a guard — really physically. He can play tackle. He’s a rare athlete that way that can move. But if you had your way, you’d like to see Mike at guard, just with the power inside and keeping the pocket firm there,” Peters told reporters. “He understands that and wears a lot of hats. But you want him to be able to really dig into something and in a perfect world you like to see him at guard.”
The Patriots have other options if they want to keep Onwenu at right tackle for now with Sidy Sow and Layden Robinson as other options to play guard.
