Despite already making some major investments along their offensive line in 2025, the New England Patriots again used serious capital to upgrade the group this offseason. The process left a particular impact on the interior, which will feature new starters at left guard (Alijah Vera-Tucker) and center (Jared Wilson) alongside a returning right guard (Mike Onwenu).
How about the backup level, though? That is a different story — one that should lead to a healthy competition this summer, including among
others second-year man Mehki Butler.
Hard facts
Name: Mehki Butler
Position: Guard/Interior offensive line
Jersey number: 63
Opening day age: 25 (4/3/2001)
Measurements: 6’3”, 310 lbs, 9 3/4” hand size, 34 5/8” arm length, 82 1/8” wingspan, 5.19s 40-yard dash, 8.02s 3-cone drill, 4.94s short shuttle, 27 1/2” vertical jump, 8’5” broad jump, 22 bench press reps, 6.07 Relative Athletic Score
Experience
NFL: New England Patriots (2025-) | College: Iowa Western (2019-20), Arkansas State (2021-24)
A state champion at Omaha North High School in Omaha, NE, Butler received limited interest coming out and started his college career right across the Missouri River, at Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs. He played 12 games for the Reivers over a two-year period and was named NJCAA first-team All-American in 2020.
Butler transferred to Arkansas State following that season, and after not seeing action in 2021 became a fixture along the Red Wolves’ offensive line. Between 2022 and 2024, he started all 38 games at left guard axnd played a combined 2,554 offensive snaps along the way.
Despite his experience and some success as both a run blocker and a pass protector, Butler went unselected in the 2025 NFL Draft. He joined the Patriots as a rookie free agent shortly thereafter, but has yet to see the field outside of the preseason.
Scouting report
Strengths: Butler is a decently-sized blocker who offers rare length. His arms rank in the 94th percentile among interior offensive linemen entering the league since 1999, with his wingspan in the 92nd percentile. He uses those attributes well and combines them with good hand placement as well as a knack for timing his punches and keeping his hands active. He generally mirrors quite well, and is able to take advantage of his reach to stifle pass rushers and win reps upon initial contact. As a run blocker, he is solid climbing to the next level and quick to disengage from double teams to get upfield.
Weaknesses: While his size and especially his length are NFL-caliber, his athleticism is not up to the same level. His wins are oftentimes the result of his physical attributes or his effort rather than him being a better athlete than his opponent. Butler is not the fastest or most nimble-footed of movers as a zone or pull blocker and he struggles to drop a firm anchor in pass protection. If defensive linemen can get into his chest and neutralize his length, he can be walked back and struggle to maintain his leverage and balance.
2025 review
Stats: N/A
Season recap: Even though he played the best football of his career in 2024, Butler’s NFL career was off to a slow start. He neither heard his name called in the 2025 draft nor the initial free agency wave afterwards. He did, however, receive an invitation to the Patriots’ rookie minicamp and took full advantage of the tryout: Butler was signed to a three-year rookie deal shortly after camp concluded.
Joining the team as a depth piece along the interior offensive line, he saw action in all three of New England’s preseason games. Playing both left and right guard, he was on the field for 52 offensive snaps and outside of one hurry in his debut kept a clean sheet as a pass protector.
His performance did not save him from getting released ahead of the late-August roster cutdown deadline, but it did help him secure a spot on the Patriots’ initial practice squad after going unclaimed through the waiver wire. His time on the developmental roster was short-lived, however, and he was let go again ahead of the team’s Week 2 game in Miami.
Butler remained on the open market for three months before finally seeing some action again: the Patriots invited him back for a workout in early December, and subsequently ended up re-signing him to their practice squad. He spent the rest of the season there and was signed to a reserve/futures contract after the Super Bowl.
2026 preview
Position: Left guard/Right guard | Ability: Camp body/Practice squad candidate | Contract: Signed through 2026 (2027 ERFA)
What will be his role? Butler has been a guard throughout his career, and will continue playing the same position in his sophomore campaign in the NFL. He saw left guard reps with the Patriots’ second-string offensive line during spring practices, a reflection of his standing on the roster: he will not challenge the starting duo of Alijah Vera-Tucker and Mike Onwenu but instead compete for a backup role.
What is his growth potential? Butler’s fairly average athleticism will cap his ceiling in the NFL, and the fact that he struggled to even hold onto a practice squad spot as a rookie is an ominous sign as well. That said, if he can continue developing from a technical perspective, he very well could become a reliable backup guard.
Does he have positional versatility? If we include his stint at Arkansas State and his one preseason with the Patriots, Butler has played 99.6% of his competitive snaps over the last five years at left guard; the other 0.4% came at right guard and entirely from New England’s final exhibition game in 2025. From that perspective, his versatility is limited. Butler can, however, offer some help as a member of the field goal and extra point protection squads.
What is his salary cap situation? The one-year futures contract Butler signed with the Patriots in February is as straight-forward as it gets: it consists entirely of a non-guaranteed $885,000 base salary that simultaneously functions as his cap hit. With that number not big enough to qualify for Top 51 status, he currently is not counted against New England’s books.
How safe is his roster spot? The Patriots will likely keep no more than five interior offensive linemen on their 53-man roster, and four of the jobs already seem locked in: the starting trio of Alijah Vera-Tucker, Jared Wilson and Mike Onwenu will be on the team, as will be top backup Ben Brown. This leaves Butler to compete with four other linemen — Caedan Wallace, Andrew Rupcich, Jacob Rizy, JonDarius Morgan — for what might at best be one available spot.
Summary: If the open offseason practices are any indication, Butler heads toward training camp as fourth in the pecking order among interior linemen (behind Ben Brown, Andrew Rupcich and Caeadan Wallace). While things can quickly change during the summer, the practice squad might be the most realistic of landing spots for the 25-year-old.
What do you think about Mehki Butler heading into the 2026 season? Will he make a second-year jump? And if so, what will it look like? Please head down to the comment section to share your thoughts.
