Van Roten Lands on IR, and Jake Kubas Is New England's Starting Guard

Greg Van Roten is on injured reserve. That makes two starting guards lost to IR — Onwenu went down first, and now Van Roten's thigh has ended his season as well. What was a depth concern a week ago is now a starting-lineup problem.

The depth chart at guard lists Ben Brown first and Jake Kubas second. Neither has logged meaningful snaps this season. Brown is the nominal starter now; Kubas is the backup. That's the whole room. There is no third option with any game experience behind them, which means New England has essentially no margin if either player misses time or struggles.

The broader context here is that this offensive line was built around Onwenu as a stabilizing force up front, and the team reworked his contract this offseason specifically to keep him. Losing him and Van Roten in the same month puts real pressure on Drake Maye — 5,222 yards and 37 touchdowns last season, but those numbers were produced behind a line that no longer exists in its original form. The running game, which Henderson and Stevenson powered to nearly 1,800 combined yards, runs through those interior gaps too.

My read: the Patriots need to be working the waiver wire and the veteran free agent market right now. Brown and Kubas may hold the position fine. But with no proven depth behind them, one more injury at guard turns a manageable problem into a genuine crisis for the offense.