Patriots Place G Greg Van Roten On IR

Veteran offensive guard Greg Van Roten’s experience in New England has already been a rollercoaster despite him signing with the team only six weeks ago. In that short time, Van Roten has already gone from backup to injury replacement starter and from starter to injured reserve. The Patriots announced today that the thigh injury that knocked Van Roten out of his first start of the season was bad enough to land him on IR.

Van Roten, a 2012 undrafted player out of Penn, has been a journeyman over the years, with stops in Green Bay, Seattle, Jacksonville, Carolina, New York, Buffalo, Las Vegas, and the other New York team before finally arriving in Foxborourgh. After appearing in only 20 games with zero starts in the first six years of his career, Van Roten finally got an opportunity to start in 2018. He started 27 games for the Panthers before making his first trip to New York, where he appeared in 30 games, starting 23.

Following a four-start season in Buffalo, Van Roten spent a year as a full-time starter with the Raiders then two more years as a full-time starter with the Giants. He joined the Patriots in the preseason this year, after New England saw its top interior backup, Ben Brown, leave the preseason opener with an injury. Two weeks into the season, Van Roten found himself entering the starting lineup across from Alijah Vera-Tucker. The two started on the same line together on the Jets five years ago, and thanks to a serious leg injury to Michael Onwenu, they were set to line up together again.

Unfortunately, the thigh injury knocked Van Roten out of this weekend’s game, forcing depth lineman Walter Rouse to become the third right guard to appear in New England’s first-team offense. At various later points of the game, Brown and rookie first-round tackle Caleb Lomu subbed into the game in place of starting center Jared Wilson and right tackle Morgan Moses, respectively, but their injuries weren’t serious enough to warrant IR placements. As the Patriots prepare for a trip to Buffalo next week, they’ll be looking for one of Rouse or Brown to take the reins at the starting right guard spot with Van Roten joining Onwenu on IR.