5 offensive tackles who could protect QB
The Patriots must reload.
Fortunately for their fans, after a 4-13 finish last season and zero playoff wins in five years, the Pats are flush with salary cap space with NFL free agency beginning next week.
With over $100 million in room, the Patriots have the most cap room in the league and need to start spending cash to hit the league’s spending floor. The NFL’S open tampering period begins Monday at noon ET, when teams are permitted to contact and enter into contract negotiations with the certified agents of players who will become unrestricted free agents. The new league year officially begins Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET, when teams are able to execute a new contract with free agents.
After parting ways with Bill Belichick this offseason, they have new leadership in head coach Jerod
Mayo and director of scouting — and de facto general manager — Eliot Wolf, who brought on an almost entirely new staff on offense and a supplemented defensive staff.
The team hit rock bottom in 2023 and now has needs across a mostly barren roster. To preview free agency, the Herald is publishing daily stories about free agents at key positions of need.
Offensive tackle
It’s been almost three seasons since the Patriots fielded two capable starting offensive tackles.
If Jerod Mayo’s rebuild is going to get off the ground in 2024, the drought must end.
The Patriots cannot support a new rookie quarterback or will not find any consistency running the ball unless the position is addressed. Mac Jones broke under a steady stream of pressure off his right side the last two years, and now both starting tackles — Trent Brown and Mike Onwenu — are set to hit free agency. Considering the sour end of Brown’s tenure, his return seems unlikely.
Onwenu? He’s a mystery. The 26-year-old guard/tackle is representing himself in a market where his services should be coveted, perhaps even worth $16-18 million per year. If the Patriots do not re-sign Onwenu — and he may not want to return — they will look elsewhere.
Here are five viable starting options in free agency:
Tyron Smith (Cowboys)
The 33-year-old was informed last week that Dallas would not be retaining him, making Smith the most attractive shortterm option on the market. Smith is a potential Hall of Famer who over the past 10 years has ranked among the league’s best pass protectors anywhere across the offensive line. While it’s likely he lands with a contender, the Patriots would do their next quarterback a great service by adding the eight-time Pro Bowler to their roster.
Jonah Williams (Bengals)
A 2019 first-round pick, Williams flipped from left tackle to right tackle last season to make room for Bengals free-agent acquisition Orlando Brown Jr. He held up well, but plays his best on the left side. At both spots, Williams has proven to be an above-average pass-blocker with strong technique to mask athletic short-comings.
The Patriots could do a lot worse than adding a 26-year-old proven starter who could play for them into his 30s.
Mekhi Becton (Jets)
The questions about Becton’s durability are about as big as he is (6foot-7, 361 pounds), but the potential remains tantalizing.
At his best, Becton is an unstoppable force as a run-blocker and immovable object in pass protection. His problems have mostly been injury-related, though his consistency has waned, as well. Last season, Becton finally put it all together, showing up to training camp in the best shape of his career and starting all 16 games for a bad Jets team.
Signing Becton would likely require a solid Plan B, but no tackle presents a better buy-low opportunity in this market than this 24-year-old with rare talent. Expect a one or two-year deal at middling money for the former firstround pick.
Jermaine Eluemunor (Raiders)
Remember him? Eluemunor was a swing tackle for the Patriots during the 2019 and 2020 seasons, then took his talents to Las Vegas, where he’s since started 34 games at right tackle. Eluemunor remains steadiest as a run-blocker, though the Raiders tightened up his pass protection. Only the league’s most athletic edge rushers should give him consistent problems as a league-average starter.
Eluemunor is expected to command a shorter-term deal that should not spook the Patriots in the slightest.
Josh Jones (Texans)
A potential trade target in past years, the Patriots can now add the 26-year-old in free agency after a down season with the Texans. He projects as a fringer starter at left tackle, where he played his best season with Arizona in 2022. Jones, like Eluemunor, favors run-blocking at the expense of his pass protection, though he allowed pressure on fewer than 6.5% of his pass-blocking snaps in 2022.
Perhaps with better coaching the Patriots can bring that version of Jones back in what would likely be a competition with incumbent swing tackle Calvin Anderson, who missed virtually all of last year.