The New England Patriots have signed veteran free agent guard Greg Van Roten to bolster depth along the interior of the offensive line.
It appears the New England Patriots have found their solution to bolster depth along the interior offensive line, as ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports that the team has agreed to terms with free agent guard Greg Van Roten.
Van Roten, 36, is a veteran of 11 years and most recently spent the past two seasons as the starting right guard for the New York Giants. In 2025, Van Roten led all guards in the NFL with 1,151 snaps played during the regular season. He committed just three penalties and allowed three sacks last season, and registered a 65.4 overall grade (35th among 81 guards), 70.2 pass blocking grade (22nd), and a 61.3 run blocking grade, per PFF.
Dating back through his 2023 season with the Las Vegas Raiders, Van Roten has started 51 of a possible 51 games and taken 3,297 offensive snaps. He also saw game action through stops in Green Bay (2012-13), Carolina (2017-19), the New York Jets (2020-21), and Buffalo (2022).
New England was first connected to Van Roten when he took a visit to Foxboro on August 6, and in the days since, has experienced a mass exodus from an already thin group. The starters were already set, with free agent addition Alijah Vera-Tucker at left guard, Jared Wilson at center, and the steady Mike Onwenu at right guard. But Vera-Tucker and Wilson both enter 2026 with histories of injury, so the addition of a dependable backup option was a necessary insurance policy.
That initially figured to be 2025 super-substitute Ben Brown, who was the team’s top backup option at each of the three interior positions last season. Close in the running was guard Andrew Rupcich, but both experienced major setbacks in Thursday night’s preseason opener against the Indianapolis Colts. Brown left the game in the first quarter and is not expected to return for the remainder of the preseason, while Rupcich’s lower-leg injury landed him on injured reserve (and later signed an injury settlement).
Behind Brown and Rupcich would have been 2024 third-round pick Caeden Wallace, who was traded on Monday, August 10 to the Miami Dolphins. Without those players available, tackle James Hudson III shifted to guard and played there for the first half of the game against Indianapolis. He’s joined by Mehki Butler and a host of undrafted free agents — JonDarius Morgan, Jacob Rizy, Darrian Dalcourt, and Joseph Michalski.
Van Roten is not only a significant upgrade to the depth along the interior of the offensive line for the rest of the preseason haul, he is also a reliable option as a backup or spot-starter during the regular season. He’ll immediately be a candidate to make the 53-man roster to start the year, and considering the current condition of the position group, may be a lock as the top backup option on day one.
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