Patriots Injury Rumors: Lomu, Schooler, Hollins

With news that Patriots starting right guard Michael Onwenu is set for an extended absence after breaking his right ankle, New England could get creative in order to fill the hole. Examining the different options available to him, head coach Mike Vrabel considered the option of shifting rookie first-round tackle Caleb Lomu in to cover for Onwenu.

“There’s a lot of things that we could look at,” Vrabel said Monday (via Doug Kyed of the Boston Herald). “Caleb’s been trying to predominantly practice and be there and be ready to go playing tackle. So, we’ve got some guys that we can move in there, and Caleb would be one of the guys that we could possibly do that. We just have to make sure that we have the best five available and then the other three guys that are versatile on game day.”

When Onwenu exited Sunday, New England opted to sub in veteran guard Greg Van Roten, but the 36-year-old struggled in the limited look. Veteran Ben Brown and trade acquisition Walter Rouse are existing options on the active roster, while Jake Kubas and Xavier Newman-Johnson are available on the practice squad. Lomu’s focus has been at tackle, where he will either replace starting right tackle Morgan Moses or take over left tackle as Will Campbell replaces the 35-year-old Moses. With the current need at guard, though, the team may have to sacrifice Lomu’s focused development to help the team today.

Here are a few other injury rumors coming out of Foxborough:

• New England has been without safety Brenden Schooler as he opened the season on the reserve/non-football injury list. Per ESPN’s Mike Reiss, there was a chance Schooler could’ve opened the season on the 53-man roster, but because he was dealing with a back ailment, the Patriots opted to play it safe with the expectation that he would return later in the season. On the NFI list, Schooler could’ve have waited as long as he needed but could return this week at the earliest. It’s a good sign, then, that Schooler returned to practice today. He won’t be eligible to play until Week 5, but the fact that the specials teams captain is practicing at his earliest opportunity is a good sign that he’ll be ready.
• The details of wide receiver Mack Hollins’ recently restructured incentives were reported last week, but Jonathan Jones of The Athletic pointed out an interesting aspect of his paperwork from last year. Per Jones, Hollins had been placed on injured reserve last year after suffering a lacerated spleen, but as his team pushed deeper and deeper into the playoffs, he argued to have an opportunity to play. He fought so hard that he agreed to sign a waiver releasing the Patriots of any liability were he to get seriously injured as a result of playing against their advice. Ultimately, he was able to contribute six catches for 129 yards and a touchdown, including a team-leading 78 yards in the biggest game of the year.