Listed at 6-foot-9, 320 pounds, Lorenz Metz is the tallest player currently under contract with the New England Patriots. Despite his towering height, however, he is largely flying under the radar.
Not only is Metz is a member of the team’s practice squad, but due to his international designation ineligible to play in any games this year. That will not change this week, despite the Patriots set to play the Detroit Lions just 50 miles from his hometown in the German province of Bavaria.
And yet, making
the trip back home and getting to practice at the facilities of FC Bayern Munich is a special experience for the 29-year-old.
“I grew up about an hour from here,” he said during a press conference on Thursday. “Bayern Munich was the team. Thomas Müller, [Manuel] Neuer — all of the Bayern players were my role models. And now standing out there on the field is unbelievable.”
Born in Neuötting, a city of 9,000 people east of Munich, Metz’s football journey started as a fan and somebody who couldn’t escape the Patriots even back then.
“I think in 2012 they started showing regular season games in German free TV,” he explained. “2012, 2014, 2016, the Patriots were pretty much on top with Tom Brady. That was the team everybody knew, with Tom Brady, who also everybody knew.”
At the age of 18, Metz started his playing career with the Kirchdorf Wildcats, appearing in 12 games and registering 48 tackles and a sack in his lone season as a defensive lineman. Shortly thereafter, he moved to the United States to play college football at Cincinnati. He switched from defensive to offensive tackle upon arrival, and over the next five seasons saw action in 39 games with 26 starts.
Despite his success and being a one-time first-team All-AAC selection, Metz went unselected in the 2023 NFL Draft. He was initially picked up by the Bears as a free agent and also spent some time in Tampa before joining New England’s practice squad for the playoff run in January.
Nine months later, he gets to experience the Patriots’ trip to Germany — and embracing his role as a local. Not only did he get more than 30 tickets for friends and family for Sunday’s game, he also treated his fellow offensive linemen and a handful of other teammates to dinner on Thursday night.
And despite his status for the game, he is looking forward to it as well. That is especially true with his brother having visited the first ever NFL game in Munich back in 2022.
“I was following it all,” he said about that particular contest between the Seahawks and Buccaneers. “I already was in college in Cinicinnati, couldn’t come to the game unfortunately, but did get two tickets for my brother. So, this is almost like a full-circle moment playing in that game and taking the field.”
