Alijah Vera-Tucker will not be shifting positions, even after both of the New England Patriots’ top two right guards went down with injuries. With Mike Onwenu and Greg Van Roten both lost for at least a month, New England’s coaching staff will plug the right guard hole with other bodies, not moving its best lineman to fill it, according to an announcement by coach Mike Vrabel.
That decision says something about where Vera-Tucker’s first season in New England stands after three games. The left side of the offensive line has become the one unit Mike Vrabel doesn’t have to worry about, and he’s not about to break it up to patch a different problem.
The right guard vacancy traces back to Week 2. Mike Onwenu was carted off the field after T.J. Watt landed on his lower leg during a first-quarter sack of Drake Maye against Pittsburgh. X-rays confirmed a broken right ankle, and New England placed him on injured reserve two days later. A regular-season return looks unlikely, according to a NESN report.
Greg Van Roten stepped into the starting job and lasted one half of one game. Signed in August after Ben Brown went down in the preseason, Van Roten started at Jacksonville in Week 3 and left with a thigh injury before the break. New England placed him on injured reserve Tuesday, the club’s 17th such move of the year, with an earliest possible return in Week 8.
Walter Rouse finished that Jacksonville game and is now ticketed for right guard duty alongside backup center Ben Brown, according to ESPN’s Mike Reiss.
Patriots Leave Alijah Vera-Tucker at Left Guard
Vrabel addressed the domino effect directly Wednesday. He said he won’t be moving Vera-Tucker from left guard to right guard, according to Doug Kyed of the Boston Herald. Rouse and Brown will work at right guard instead, and Vrabel pointed to what Vera-Tucker and rookie left tackle Will Campbell are building together as his reason to keep the pair together.
Vera-Tucker has made more career starts at right guard than left guard dating back to his Jets years, but the Patriots are betting on left-side continuity over shuffling him around.
Vera-Tucker’s Long Road to New England
Born in Oakland in 1999, Vera-Tucker started for four years at USC before the Jets traded up to draft him 14th overall in 2021, one pick ahead of New England taking Mac Jones. He started as a rookie and earned PFWA All-Rookie honors, then lost most of the next two seasons to a torn right triceps and a torn Achilles. He bounced back in 2024 with 15 strong starts at right guard before tearing his left triceps days before the 2025 opener, ending that season, too. He never finished a full 17-game slate in New York.
New England signed him as a free agent in March on a three-year, $42 million contract, with $21 million guaranteed, including per-game bonuses built in to hedge against exactly the injury history that chased him out of New York.
Three games into that bet, Vera-Tucker looks as if he is living up to his billing. He was shaky against Seattle in Week 1, when he allowed five pressures and a sack, according to Mike Giardi. He cleaned that up against Pittsburgh.
In Jacksonville, the left side held up completely. Vera-Tucker allowed zero pressures in that 35-6 loss, according to Kyed. Ten of New England’s 14 pressures surrendered that day came from the right side.
Patriots Announce Alijah Vera-Tucker Decision Before Bills Game