FOXBORO — The Patriots’ offensive line overall might still be a work in progress, but coordinator Alex Van Pelt has finally settled on his starting tackles.
The Patriots started their fifth offensive line combination in five weeks during Sunday’s 15-10 loss to the Dolphins with Vederian Lowe at left tackle, Michael Jordan at left guard, Nick Leverett replacing David Andrews at center, Mike Onwenu moving from tackle to right guard and Demontrey Jacobs flipping from left tackle to right tackle. It was an entirely different combination from Week 4, when Jacobs was at left tackle, Sidy Sow was at left guard, Andrews was at center, Layden Robinson was at right guard and Onwenu was at right tackle.
Van Pelt feels especially good about Lowe and Jacobs in their current roles.
“Feel strong about them, and I think Vederian is playing at a high level,” Van Pelt said. “He’s probably our best pass blocker on that edge. Did a really good job. I thought protection was better as the game went on. Got a couple struggles early, but we’re doing better things. And of course, Trey, when he gets over there, he’s going to continue to improve, going from left to right in his second start. A couple schematic errors, but really cleaned that up as the game went on. Really encouraged about the edges.”
Lowe was supposed to be the Patriots’ left tackle from Week 1, but he suffered an injury late in camp, pushing Chukwuma Okorafor into a starting role. Okorafor was benched for Lowe 12 snaps into Week 1 and then left the team before Week 2. Lowe started Week 2 but suffered an injury late in the game. Rookie Caedan Wallace started Week 3, and Jacobs started Week 4. Lowe finally recovered from his injury and was PFF’s highest-graded pass blocker in Week 5.
The biggest question mark on the line is at center, where Leverett allowed 10 pressures in Week 5. That was tied for the highest number of pressures allowed by a center in the advanced analytics era. The Patriots responded to that performance by signing center Sincere Haynesworth to their practice squad and center Ben Brown off the Raiders’ practice squad onto their 53-man roster. The team also has undrafted rookie Bryan Hudson on their practice squad as an option to start. Hudson was elevated to the active roster for Sunday’s game as a backup to Leverett.