There were many concerns about the Patriots heading into the 2026 season, with their offensive line depth among the most worrisome.
Although they appeared to have a solid starting group, with Alijah Vera-Tucker joining them in free agency, their backups, beyond the game-day lineup, were questionable at best and have now had to take the field much more than anyone anticipated.
The piling up of injuries through the first six games has been nothing short of devastating, with Mike Onwenu breaking his ankle in Week 2 and three more players, Ben Brown, Morgan Moses, and Alijah Vera-Tucker, leaving with injuries against the Jets.
That put rookie Caleb Lomu in the spotlight for the second week in a row, but this time, instead of filling in at left tackle for Will Campbell, he checked into the right side in place of Moses.
It's a moment he's been training for all summer, as the Patriots hope he can become more of a swing tackle and succeed the veteran by next season, and he couldn't have played better to solidify that role as soon as possible.
And there's a chance he could steal that job from Moses, even if he's able to return as soon as this week against the Bears.
Caleb Lomu might be a starter in 2026 if he continues to play at this level
Over the past two weeks, Lomu has been beyond impressive, filling in wherever needed on the offensive line. He faced a tough Raiders' defensive line last week and followed it up with a strong showing against another top-ranked defense with the Jets.
That's resulted in high grades from Pro Football Focus, which credited him with 59 pass-blocking snaps, 0 sacks, 0 quarterback hits allowed, 1 hurry, and 1 total pressure, earning him a 99.0 pass-block efficiency grade and 80.3 pass-block grade.
Considering he hasn't started a single NFL game and was thrown into the mix unexpectedly due to injury, especially on the right side, which he didn't play in college, Lomu deserves a lot of credit for how seamlessly he fit in and got the job done.
Moses hasn't played up to his usual standard in the first six games, possibly because of an underlying injury he tried to play through. He's done that throughout his career, so it's not entirely unexpected, but leaving the game against the Jets early might be his way of deciding it's time to take a break and heal.
That gives Lomu the chance to slide into right tackle and potentially steal Moses' starting job in the meantime. And if he keeps playing at the high level he's shown over the last two weeks, it's hard to say he can't do it.
It might be his only real chance this year to become a starter, as most believed he wouldn't take over a starting role until next year, leaving the door open for Lomu to take that job sooner rather than later.
It won't be easy, since Moses has been as solid as they come for the Patriots since he joined the team in 2025, but until we know the severity of his injury, especially on a short week, it's probably safe to say that Lomu will be getting the start for the foreseeable future. And based on his performance, he certainly deserves it.
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