After losing both Ben Brown and Andrew Rupcich to injury in their preseason opener against the Indianapolis Colts, the New England Patriots explored the free agency market to further bolster their depth along the interior offensive line. They ended up signing three players in the days after the game.
But while Darrian Dalcourt and Joseph Michalski were low-cost investments, the team decided to spend quite a bit of money to bring in Greg Van Roten. What this shows is that the 36-year-old appears to be in the team’s plans for 2026.
OL Greg Van Roten: Contract details
Base value: $3,000,000
Maximum value: $4,500,000
Guarantees: $1,000,000
Base salary: $500,000
Signing bonus: $500,000
2026 (age 36):
Base salary: $1,480,000
Signing bonus: $500,000
Roster bonus: $1,020,000
Incentives (LTBE): $1,500,000
Salary cap hit: $4,500,000
Van Roten had remained unsigned since his prior contract with the Giants expired in January. He nonetheless ended up receiving a deal from the Patriots that clearly is above the $1.3 million that would have been the veteran minimum for a player of his experience.
Besides getting a partially-guaranteed $1.48 million salary, the team also added a $500,000 signing bonus as well as $2.52 million dependent on availability and performance. He has $1.02 million in roster bonuses on the line as well as up to $1.5 million in playing time incentives, both of which considered likely to be earned and therefore part of New England’s salary cap calculations.
At $4.5 million, his cap number is only slightly below that of starting left guard Alijah Vera-Tucker ($4.78M), one of the players Van Roten will be backing up this year. And what the relatively high guarantees in particular show is that the Patriots very well might be counting on that.
Even though Ben Brown is a strong candidate to resume his spot as the top interior backup once he returns from his injury, Van Roten looks like the frontrunner to fill that role until then. This also means he might just sneak his way onto the 53-man roster despite only joining the team in mid-August.
