The meaning of the Patriots moving Mike Onwenu back to guard

Signing one's own best free agents as the Patriots did this offseason is positive. Unfortunately, Bill Belichick's policy of not signing them earlier before they reached free agency cost the Patriots way more money than it should have.

In two instances, Kyle Dugger and Mike Onwenu were signed to contacts far exceeding what they could have been signed for two years earlier. This hurt the team dramatically. Young players want and seek security, and the best should be signed earlier to team-friendly deals.

That factor boosted the contracts both received. Here we'll center on Mike Onwenu, his contract, and the team's recent shift of this solid offensive lineman back to guard from the right tackle position at which he played well much of the past few seasons.

Moving Mike Onwenu back to guard is a poor optic

The recent move of Mike Onwenu back to guard is mystifying. The Boston Herald cites even the player's surprise at the move,

"Onwenu said it was a little surprising when the team moved him back to guard during the spring.

'But pretty much I’m a football player, and I’ve done it in the past,' Onwenu said. 'I started as a guard, started as a jumbo tackle and then I played tackle. It’s just one of the positions that I play.'"

Moving Onwenu back to guard is troubling. His big contract extension this offseason essentially paid him tackle money. Now, he's back inside. This connotes indecision at best by the personnel operation, headed by Eliot Wolf and the new Head Coach, Jerod Mayo.

According to Spotrac.com, Onwenu signed a 3-year contract with $36.5M guaranteed money with a total of $57M. That's far more than any, but the top NFL guards, e.g., Zack Martin of Dallas and Joe Thuney (remember him?) in Kansas City, should be paid.

In addition, the Patriots have drafted guards heavily in the past three drafts. In 2022, they wasted a first-round pick on Cole Strange. In 2023, they drafted two pure guards, Sidy Sow, and Atonio Mafi, in the fourth and fifth rounds, respectively, and center/guard Jake Andrews, also in the fourth round.

With Strange (benched prior to getting injured last season) on the shelf, Sow is the only one who may play. In addition, they ponied up a fourth-round pick for another guard, Layden Robinson, in this year's draft. Guards are commodities found late in the draft or even in undrafted free agency (e.g., Onwenu). Much of this is misplaced investment that is better used elsewhere.

Massive investments at guard and moving Onwenu back there now are amateurish

All these draft picks on guards when the team has struggled to find NFL-worthy tackles other than Onwenu last season and still doesn't have a left tackle, is an ominous sign. It signals personnel confusion at best and ineptitude at worst.

Some of these draft gaffes can be laid squarely at Bill Belichick's feet. This year's draft and this head-scratching Onwenu move are fully on the new regime. Right tackles are suggested to play the left (a ludicrous idea), and guards are brought in by the bushel-full with higher draft picks and can't play.

They've moved Onwenu and his tackle-level salary back inside to guard. This creates another question: Who will play right tackle? The appropriate question for students of old comedy (Abbott and Costello for veteran observers) is "Who's on first," or in this case, who's at guard and tackle?

The then-defending champion Los Angeles Rams laughed at the Patriots on national TV for drafting the aforementioned Strange in the first round. He's proven them right. He's neither a first-round talent nor maybe even a third-round talent, which was his predicted spot.

Now, Eliot Wolf and company are setting themselves up for additional laughter. The team's musical chair and Keystone Cop's approach with their offensive line, the second most important unit on the team after the quarterbacks, are jokes.

Moving Mike Onwenu back to guard is a terrible optic for the "new" Patriots' management team. They look amateurish and are once again bordering on the laughingstock level of personnel ineffectiveness. Owner Robert Kraft must be loving all this.

Perhaps there's time (though it's late) to fix things, but it doesn't look promising. Last place is looking more and more likely by the day. Absent rolling out Drake Maye from the outset, which will give them a chance, they seem to be free-falling once again to the bottom of the AFC East.

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