New York Giants guard Greg van Roten (74) looks to block Los Angeles Chargers defensive end Da'Shawn Hand (91) during an NFL football game on Sunday, Sep. 28, 2025, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Rusty Jones)
New York Giants guard Greg van Roten (74) looks to block Los Angeles Chargers defensive end Da’Shawn Hand (91) during an NFL football game on Sunday, Sep. 28, 2025, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Rusty Jones)
The Patriots are signing veteran offensive lineman Greg Van Roten, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler first reported Monday.
Van Roten, 36, has 105 career starts in 11 seasons spread out between the Panthers, Jets, Bills, Raiders and Giants. The 6-foot-4, 295-pound guard has also spent time with the Packers, Seahawks, Jaguars and the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts.
The 2012 undrafted free agent out of Penn started 17 games at right guard for the Giants last season. He’s also started games at center and left guard in his lengthy NFL career.
The Patriots went into training camp shallow at guard and center even before Ben Brown and Andrew Rupcich suffered injuries during Thursday’s preseason opener against the Colts.
Brown is expected to miss the rest of the preseason, while the Patriots placed Rupcich on injured reserve. The Patriots were left with Mehki Butler, Darrian Dalcourt, James Hudson, Joe Michalski, Jon Darius Morgan and Jacob Rizy behind starters left guard Alijah Vera-Tucker, center Jared Wilson and right guard Mike Onwenu at practice Monday.
Head coach Mike Vrabel teased earlier this summer that 2026 first-round pick Caleb Lomu would cross-train at tackle and guard, but he’s only played left and right tackle so far this summer.
“What happens is, where do you feel like he can make the most strides, and you don’t want to derail the improvement that he’s making and some of those things,” Vrabel said Monday about why Lomu has stuck at tackle. “And so I’m probably much like you guys and say, ‘Hey, that it’s not that big of a deal to go from tackle to guard.’ I’ve got a lot of coaches that probably think differently than what you guys and maybe me think, and that it’s a little bigger deal, but I think Caleb’s been working hard. He’s been trying to improve, but I think at some point we will need to do that as well, and that’s just trying to be fair to the kid and the player as he’s developing and learning this game and this league, and then at some point in time probably have to take a look in there.”
Vrabel was also asked Monday if the team could sign a veteran guard to supplement the group.
That’s exactly what they did when they brought in Van Roten.
“Well, 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 game, and then always keep our eyes open to what it looks like around the league,” Vrabel said.
Among the Patriots’ reserve guards and centers, Morgan and Rizy are undrafted free agents. Dalcourt and Michalski were signed within the last week. Butler was an undrafted free agent last year. Hudson was converted to guard from tackle this summer. All of which underscores the Patriots’ need for a trusted veteran at the position.
Vera-Tucker, Wilson and Onwenu have a chance to be among the stronger interior offensive lines in the NFL, but Vera-Tucker has played just 43 of 85 potential games due to injury-related absences. Wilson struggled as a rookie in 2025, but he was playing out of position at left guard. It’s assumed that he’ll play better at his natural position at center, but that’s not a foregone conclusion.
All in all, the Patriots’ offensive line was a weakness last season. If Vera-Tucker stays healthy, and if Wilson and left tackle Will Campbell improve, then they have the potential to be much stronger in 2026. But they desperately needed more depth, and Van Roten should fill that void.
Van Roten allowed just 26 pressures, including three sacks, as a starter with the Giants last season.
He’s played under two Patriots offensive coaches — in 2023 under Josh McDaniels when the Pats OC was head coach of the Raiders, and briefly under Doug Marrone when the offensive line coach was head coach of the Jaguars in 2017.