Patriots training camp battles: Who will be the fifth offensive lineman? originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Editor’s Note: With training camp kicking off next week, Patriots Insider Phil Perry is highlighting key position battles to watch on the practice fields outside Gillette Stadium. Tuesday’s battle focused on wide receivers. Next up: the offensive line.
Earlier this week, we touched on key Patriots training camp battles we’re expecting to play out at cornerback and receiver. Those matter. No question.
But, outside of what’s happening at quarterback, there’s one position group where the competition for roles is more critical than any other (because of, wait for it, the impact it’ll have on the quarterback position): offensive line.
Based on what the Patriots put on the field during spring workouts, three of the five spots seem relatively settled. David Andrews at center, Sidy Sow at left guard and Chukwuma Okorafor at left tackle appear to be the preferred options.
We also know that Mike Onwenu, fresh off signing a contract in the offseason that makes him one of the most well-compensated offensive linemen in football, will start. Somewhere. Where exactly he’ll anchor remains to be seen because he’s a viable starter at both right tackle and right guard.
Therefore, in pursuit of discovering the best combination of five blockers available to them, the Patriots could make the unknown fifth starter a guard, which would allow Onwenu to settle on the outside. Or they could make that fifth starter a tackle, bumping Onwenu inside to serve as a highly capable (and expensive) guard.
Who takes that fifth spot, and where do they settle along the line? Those questions should be answered over the course of camp. Let’s comb through the names.
The favorite
Caedan Wallace finished up the spring working in with the top offensive line group at right tackle — where he started 40 games while at Penn State prior to becoming a third-round pick of the Patriots. If the team wants one of its top draft choices to play and play right away, that would be the most logical landing spot for him. And if the Patriots are taking a Packers approach to how they use their young players, Wallace could be in line for meaningful snaps as a rookie.
The question is whether or not he’s prepared to handle what will be thrown his way at that position in his first real action as a pro. These days, right tackles have to be as savvy in pass protection as their teammates on the left side. There are too many talented game-wreckers who play off the offensive right for teams to try to get away with a lesser player on their quarterback’s front side.
Some of the top pass-rushers the Patriots will face this season — San Francisco‘s Nick Bosa, Miami‘s Jaelan Phillips, Cincinnati‘s Sam Hubbard, Tennessee‘s Harold Landry, Haason Reddick of the Jets, Chicago‘s Montez Sweat and Houston‘s Will Anderson — all played over 70 percent of their pass-rushing snaps on offensive right last season.
If Wallace is going to be the fifth name on the offensive line to start for New England in 2024, he’ll have to prove he can hold up against some of the best rushers the Patriots can throw at him during 1-on-1 situations in training camp. Tackles can be helped by tight ends or running backs in pass protection, but the team would be running a risk by trotting Wallace onto the field if he has a hard time holding his own in padded practices this summer.
The ‘remember me?’ option
Wallace could be competing with a fellow rookie for a starting role, even if they don’t play the same position. Layden Robinson was New England’s fourth-round pick out of Texas A&M, and he’s viewed as a guard-only type.
The reason he’s worth keeping in the conversation here is that his draft status — and what appears to be a lack of positional versatility — would seem to suggest that the Patriots view him as an early contributor along the interior. As Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy told Next Pats earlier this offseason, teams typically aren’t looking to use fourth-round picks on backup offensive linemen who play one position.
Nagy had a chance to see Robinson up close in Mobile, and then he liked what he saw when he reviewed Robinson’s tape from a week of practices against some of the best draft-eligible competition college football had to offer this year. If Wallace stumbled on the outside at tackle, Robinson could end up being the fifth lineman in Foxboro, kicking Onwenu out to right tackle.
Coming from the SEC, and having an opportunity to potentially play between Onwenu at tackle and Andrews at center, it would not be out of the realm of possibility for Robinson to end up as the team’s choice at right guard.
The dark horse
There are all kinds of under-the-radar options who could factor in along the offensive line for Jerod Mayo’s offense.
Calvin Anderson, back after a bout with malaria limited him last season, could end up providing an answer at tackle. Atonio Mafi, who saw action in all 17 games last season, was busy seeing time at both guard and center in the spring.
Michael Jordan, a veteran guard, could end up being the best option of the bunch with 29 career starts under his belt. Vederian Lowe and Tyrone Wheatley spent time with offenses earlier in their careers — in Minnesota and Cleveland with Alex Van Pelt, respectively — that are similar to what the Patriots will be running in New England.
But the player who may ultimately end up edging out other dark-horse candidates to start could be Nick Leverett.
If neither rookie is ready to go, and if the Patriots would prefer to slot Onwenu at tackle, Leverett is the player on the roster — aside from Mafi — who has most recently seen significant time on the interior. He played 761 snaps for the Bucs in 2022, seeing the vast majority of his snaps at left guard and filling in for 42 at center in Week 18.
Plenty of questions here across the board, making the offensive line — and the battle for the fifth starting spot — one of the most important competitions in Patriots camp.