Previewing the Patriots’ offensive tackle position heading into the offseason.
Ever since the 2022 season, offensive tackle has been a major concern for the New England Patriots and a position that has hurt their ability to play consistent offense. Heading into 2025, and with supporting sophomore quarterback Drake Maye as the No. 1 team building objective, it therefore might be the biggest need on the current roster.
With that said, let’s take a closer look at the group — where it stands at the moment, and where there is room for improvement.
Patriots wide receiver depth chart
Vederian Lowe: Lowe opened 2024 as a backup left tackle behind Chukwuma Okorafor, but his stint on the bench ended after only 12 snaps. He replaced the struggling offseason addition in the first quarter of the season opener, and never looked back. Even though his play was uneven and he dealt with knee, ankle and shoulder injuries — missing three games as a consequence — New England held onto him as its starting left tackle for the remainder of the season.
Demontrey Jacobs: The Patriots took to the waiver wire to bring Jacobs in following roster cutdowns, and he ended up leading all of their offensive tackles in playing time. Starting games at left tackle, but mostly being employed on the right side, he ended the 2024 campaign with 867 offensive snaps (79.3%) — the first of his two-year NFL career. His high snap count was more the result of circumstance rather than him playing starter-level football, though: the unexperienced Jacobs had his fair share of issues all year long.
Caedan Wallace: New England had high hopes for Wallace upon selecting him with the 68th overall pick in the 2024 draft. However, the Penn State product had a quiet rookie campaign: his only two starts came as a sixth lineman, and he was on the field for only 129 total offensive snaps (11.8%). He also missed 11 games due to an ankle injury sustained in Week 4 against San Francisco.
Sidy Sow: Sow had a weird sophomore season. After spending most of training camp as the starting left guard, an ankle injury suffered in the preseason finale drastically changed his outlook. He did go wire-to-wire in his Week 4 return, but was removed from the starting lineup altogether from Week 5 on. Down the stretch, the Patriots used him as a right tackle, sixth lineman and fullback rather than on the interior. In total, he ended up playing only 155 offensive snaps (14.2%) on the year.
Caleb Jones: After getting cut by the Green Bay Packers in late August, Jones found his way to the New England practice squad. The 6-foot-9, 370-pounder spent the entirety of the season on the developmental roster without any game day elevations or other action.
In addition to those five offensive tackles, the Patriots also have some positional flexibility among their guards. Michael Onwenu opened the 2024 season as the team’s starting right tackle, while Cole Strange was a part-time starter at left tackle in college. Both might factor into the tackle mix as well for 2025.
Offseason preview
Contract statuses: Vederian Lowe (signed/2025), Demontrey Jacobs (ERFA), Caedan Wallace (signed/2027), Sidy Sow (signed/2026), Caleb Jones (signed/2025)
Coaching staff: Doug Marrone (offensive line), Jason Houghtaling (assistant offensive line), Robert Kugler (assistant offensive line)
Looking at the Patriots’ current offensive tackle depth chart, only one player can feel somewhat optimistic about his job security: Caedan Wallace, the team’s third-round draft pick last year, is the only player listed above who should be on the roster in 2025 as well. However, even that is not a given with a new coaching staff coming to town — including new offensive line coach Doug Marrone.
The Patriots tearing the entire position group down and building it back up from scratch is still not expected to happen. In fact, a majority if not all of the tackles currently signed should be back next year. The lone exception might be Vederian Lowe, whose release would free up $3.325 million in salary cap space with no dead money attached.
Of course, Lowe was the most consistent tackle the Patriots used in 2024; releasing him would be a bit of a gamble with no clear replacement option around. Regardless of what happens with him as well as exclusive rights free agent Lowe, though, New England should be expected to make major investments in free agency and the draft.
Their potential to do the first will be dependent on the franchise tag window, and whether top-tier options like Ronnie Stanley and Alaric Jackson make it to the open market. If so, the Patriots pursuing them would not come as a surprise given their vast resources and need at the position.
From a long-term perspective, however, the best course of action is investing in the draft. While spending the No. 4 pick on a tackle might be a bit too rich given the questions surrounding Will Campbell, Armand Membou, Kelvin Banks Jr. and Josh Simmons. More realistically, New England might eye second-tier tackles like Josh Conerly Jr. or Aireontae Ersery at the end of the first or in the early second round.
The bottom line remains the same, though, no matter what the team specifically has in mind: running the same group back at offensive tackle would be nothing short of roster construction malpractice.