The honeymoon period for the Mike Vrabel tenure leading the New England Patriots has appeared to have officially ended. Standing at 1-2 and with inexplicably poor showings from All-Pro, third year quarterback Drake Maye , the Patriots' season already looks in danger just three games in.
Whilst team performance has been an issue, the more noticeable – albeit intertwined – compounding problem is roster health. The Patriots were one of the healthiest teams in the league in 2025, and unfortunately regression has come back reverse that good piece of fortune.
New England lost top wideout and prime offseason addition A.J. Brown in Week 1's opening day loss to the Seattle Seahawks , and since then Maye has struggled to maintain consistency in the passing game.
But the real positional crisis looks to be forming on the interior offensive line, after the Patriots' backup right guard Greg Van Roten, left Sunday's game with a thigh injury. Sadly for New England, Van Roten is not returning anytime soon after the team put him on the injured reserve list on Tuesday.
Van Roten was originally the #2 option behind veteran Mike Onwenu, who will is set to miss the most of and potentially the entirety of the 2026 season.
With this move, Van Roten will be out for a minimum of four games, during which the Patriots will need to assess their options at the position. During the game, third year offensive lineman Walter Rouse , whom New England traded for at the roster deadline on Aug. 30, was the main fill-in.
However, former Las Vegas Raider Ben Brown is currently listed as the starting right guard for this coming week. ESPN's Mike Reiss confirmed this in the wake of Van Roten's injury designation, stating that Brown would be taking the first team snaps at RG, but that Rouse was also "in the mix".
With this second key injury at offensive line, do not be shocked if the Patriots make a move for one of the many free agent offensive linemen still without a team, à la Green Bay Packers .
This article was originally published on HEAVY
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