Coming out of their preseason opener with both of their top interior offensive line backups injured, the New England Patriots opted to proactively address the issue.
After signing Darrian Dalcourt and Joseph Michalski two days after their 13-13 tie with the Indianapolis Colts, they also brought in a 12-year veteran earlier this week to further bolster the group. That veteran made his practice debut with the club on Wednesday, and head coach Mike Vrabel spoke about him beforehand.
Needless to say, he
likes what Greg Van Roten has to offer.
“He started every game for three years. He’s played interior offensive line,” Vrabel said about the 36-year-old. “It’s something that, after the game coming out of here, where we needed to strengthen that.”
And strengthen that, they did. Instead of looking at a backup trio of James Hudson, Jacob Rizy and Mehki Butler, the Patriots now have Van Roten as the projected top backup along the interior offensive line.
Van Roten, who at the age of 36 is the oldest player on the Patriots’ roster now, entered the league as an undrafted rookie with the Packers in 2012. Since then, he has worn the uniform of what is now nine different NFL teams and seen action in 148 games with 105 starts. He also saw extensive snaps at both guard spots and at center.
Given his versatile experience and the durability mentioned by Vrabel — he played 3,300 snaps over 51 starts the last three years — it is not hard to see why the Patriots were interested in his services in the first place. In addition, he also provides something else: experience in the team’s system after spending one year with Josh McDaniels in Las Vegas and two more with former New England assistant Brian Daboll in New York.
“A proven player and somebody that I think has got experience in what we do, and the terminology from Josh a few years ago and then [Daboll] the last couple of years,” Vrabel said. “So, somebody that we felt like could help us.”
With Ben Brown expected to be out for multiple weeks and Andrew Rupcich on injured reserve, the Patriots are counting on that.
