Costly Victory As Onwenu Suffers Season-Ending Injury

The Patriots might have gotten in the win column for the first time in 2026, but it looks like it may have come at a cost.

ESPN’s Mike Reiss reports that offensive guard Mike Onwenu suffered a broken right ankle, with the initial X-Rays revealing the injury.

The injury happened early in the first quarter on a play where Drake Maye was sacked for a 3-yard loss.  As Maye was running to his right, T.J. Watt dove at Maye and flung his body into the back of Onwenu’s leg, with Watt landing on Onwenu’s ankle.

Onwenu was thrown backward, with the replay revealing what was certainly a gruesome injury.

The veteran somehow managed to gingerly walk off the field, but he ended up being immediately carted to the locker room.

Veteran backup Greg Van Roten took over at right guard for Onwenu and finished the game.

“Yeah, it’s heartbreaking when you see a guy like Mike who’s played through injuries, been here since I got here as a rookie, playing multiple positions, and he’s just gritty, and he leaves it all out there,” said Maye of the injury.  “And [I’ll] make sure to check in on him and see how he’s doing.”

“But at the same time, we had Greg [Van Roten] come in there, and guys are stepping up, and you got Greg and Mo [Morgan Moses] over there – that’s combined at least 70 years over there. So they got a lot of experience, and they know how to play together, and they’ve been on teams before.”

“So I got full confidence in GVR when he came in there, and we definitely got to clean things up, but full confidence. And we ran the ball at times really well.”

It’s a tough loss and an even more frustrating situation for Onwenu, who was in the final year of his contract.  He restructured his contract back in May, agreeing to a revised one-year, fully guaranteed contract worth $10 million.

With Onwenu likely heading to IR, the Patriots will again be in the market for offensive line depth, with the hopes that Van Roten can help ensure they can keep things going with a trip to Jacksonville up next.