FOXBOROUGH - A year ago, the Patriots were one of the league's healthiest teams, losing 154 games to injury. That was the 4th fewest in the league, per Sports Info Solutions, trailing only the Raiders, Jaguars and Rams.
This year, the storm clouds started rolling in early - try OTAs and a season-ending injury to TE Julian Hill - and haven’t let up since. The Pats went into Sunday’s game against the Steelers without, among others, Carlton Davis (neck), A.J. Brown (IR/ankle), Harold Landry (PUP/knee), Brenden Schooler (NFI/back), and backup lineman Marcus Bryant (IR/knee). Now, add Mike Onwenu (ankle) to the list. He reportedly broke his ankle in the first half. While Mike Vrabel wouldn’t confirm the nature of the injury, he did say, “I wouldn’t anticipate him being out there here in the next few weeks. If that changes and it ends up being longer than that, then we will let you guys know,” then added, “Mike hurt his ankle. I think you guys could see that on the TV.”
We could, and it was fairly gruesome. Onwenu is no doubt headed for the IR, and it feels like it could be another season-ender. The Pats don’t have a player capable of reaching the same heights as Onwenu could and did, especially during the second half of last year. 36-year-old Greg Van Roten had some understandable struggles stepping into that role versus that Pittsburgh front, and veteran depth piece Ben Brown, though active, is coming off a knee injury himself. Could first-rounder Caleb Lomu be a candidate, if not immediately, in the near future?
“Again, there are a lot of things that we could look at,” Vrabel said. “Caleb has been trying to predominantly practice, be there, be ready to go playing tackle. So, we have some guys that we could move in there, and Caleb would be one of the guys that could possibly do that. But again, 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.”
Previously, Vrabel noted that making the adjustment from tackle to guard isn’t as simple as he would like. The idea then was that the coaching staff didn’t want to burden Lomu with too much, so they chose to keep developing him as a future starter at tackle. That still seems to be the preference, though the 21-year-old rookie may get more practice reps in the coming days and weeks in case Vrabel doesn’t like what he sees from Van Roten/Brown.
Elsewhere on the injury front, Dre’Mont Jones’ shoulder remains a primary concern, although Vrabel didn’t sound the alarm: “I don’t know how he’s going to progress during the week. I know he wasn’t able to finish the game, obviously. He’ll do everything he can to be ready, and if he’s not, then we will have alternate plans.”
Safety, however, seems to be a bigger problem. Craig Woodson left in the second half of Sunday’s game and was later seen in the locker room with a sling on his arm. Dell Pettus hurt his ankle and also didn’t return. That left defensive coordinator Zak Kuhr with two healthy bodies to finish the game: Kevin Byard and Jaylen Reed.
“I think some of the veteran practice squad guys are going to factor in this week,” Vrabel said. “I know that Mike Brown has been with us since the spring, and I think that’s the balance that you weigh with the practice squad. We’ve talked about that.
“You have some young guys that you’re looking to develop (Elliott Davidson is the other safety on the p-squad), some veteran guys that have played in games that are preparing as a starter and that’ll be ready to go. So as the week unfolds, we’ll have to make sure that everybody’s ready to go. If guys can’t end up making it, then we'll sign guys or elevate guys.”
It will be a challenge to craft a plan with the healthy bodies that are left to go into Jacksonville and beat the Jaguars, especially for a defense that wants to affect the quarterback and has generally found the best way to accomplish that is to blitz (again, the Pats 47% blitz rate while the game hung in the balance). Will they trust backups or young players (Gabe Jacas and Quintayvious Hutchings) to handle one-on-one matchups and the added stress of communication on the road? That will surely be a discussion at 1960 Patriot Place over the next 24-36 hours.
ON MAYE
We’ve spilled a lot of words on Drake Maye, and will continue to do so, good, bad, ugly, or indifferent. During his Monday press conference, I asked Vrabel how the team could help the quarterback settle down in the pocket.
“I think that there’s a balance,” he said. “I think you have to be able to keep your eyes down the field. I think you have to be able to slide, move in the pocket and transfer, and I think it also comes down to blocking better more consistently, so that there’s a confidence, a trust and that everybody knows that the other guy is doing his job to make the play work. We have to be able to do that offensively for 11 guys, have an urgency and have a unit that, whatever the protection is, then the quarterback knows where the issue is.
“Then if the receiver has to side adjust, they side adjust. Or if we get a three-man rush, that we have the ability to stay in the pocket, let things progress and buy some time. So, it all works together. I think that’s something that Drake has done, and I think that’s something that we’ve all done at times. Then if he feels like it’s man coverage and he feels like he can run, then go and be aggressive. He did that a few times yesterday, and then there are probably a few times that he probably could have manipulated the pocket as well.”
Maye’s been jumpy from the get-go this year, feeling the rush when it’s not there and continually trying to escape. Two of the three sacks he took against the Steelers were on his own doing. To make matters worse, the one he ran into in the red area contributed to Onwenu getting hurt. That play was designed to be a three-step drop and let ‘er rip (Morgan Moses threw a cut block). Instead, Maye pulled the ball back down, and you know what happened next. The Pats have to figure out how to get the third-year pro back to where he was for much of the 2025 regular season. Right now, there don’t seem to be any easy answers.