Wild stat highlights Patriots’ roster turnover at crucial position originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Some bad teams rifle through starting quarterbacks in their quest to achieve NFL relevance. But the New England Patriots’ most unstable position might be in front of their QB.
Two Patriots offensive tackles are dealing with injuries this week, as Vederian Lowe (knee) has yet to practice this week and rookie Caedan Wallace (knee) has been a limited participant. If neither can suit up, New England will have to turn to recent signing Demontrey Jacobs — who went undrafted in 2023 and has yet to play an NFL snap — as its starting left tackle against All-Pro defensive end Nick Bosa and the San Francisco 49ers.
That may sound like a disaster scenario, but it would be nothing new for this Patriots team, which has started three different left tackles through three games in 2024 — Chukwuma Okorafor in Week 1, Lowe in Week 2 and Wallace in Week 3.
If Jacobs makes it 4-for-4 on Sunday, he’ll be the 13th different offensive tackle (left or right) to start a game for New England since the start of the 2022 season. Here are the previous 12, per the Boston Herald’s Zack Cox:
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Caedan Wallace
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Vederian Lowe
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Chukwuma Okorafor
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Mike Onwenu
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Trent Brown
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Calvin Anderson
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Conor McDermott
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Yodny Cajuste
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Marcus Cannon
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Isaiah Wynn
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Justin Herron
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Yasir Durant
That’s an average of a new starting offensive tackle every three games over the past two-plus seasons. And it speaks in part to why the Patriots have had one of the NFL’s worst offenses in that span (26th in yards per game in 2022, 30th in 2023 and dead-last entering Week 4 in 2024).
As the list above illustrates, New England has whiffed on OTs in both the NFL Draft and free agency. Herron, Wynn, Cannon, Cajuste, Onwenu and Wallace all were drafted in 2018 or later, and only Onwenu and Wallace remain with the team. Of the team’s six free-agent signings at tackle since 2022 — Durant, McDermott, Anderson, Brown, Okorafor and Lowe — only Lowe is still on the squad.
There’s some element of injuries and bad luck here; Lowe has been a solid option at left tackle when healthy, and the team couldn’t have foreseen Okorafor surprisingly stepping away from the team earlier this month. But the Patriots’ personnel department — now headed by de facto general manager Eliot Wolf — bears responsibility for finding a solution.
If the Patriots want to properly develop No. 3 overall pick Drake Maye, they need to stop the revolving door at offensive tackle — particularly on the left side. That means either acquiring an established veteran in 2025 free agency (or pursuing one at the 2024 NFL trade deadline) or using an early-round 2025 draft pick on a left tackle who can man the position for years to come.
