FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Patriots have pushed rookie lineman Caleb Lomu to the limit, testing him on different days at both left and right tackle in training camp practices.
The first-round pick out of Utah has responded like most rookies, winning some and losing some of the battles.
Are the Patriots and head coach Mike Vrabel desperate enough to try Lomu inside out necessity?
Injuries taking their toll
New England is wearing thin at the guard position. Starters Alijah Vera-Tucker and Mike Onwenu are able and healthy. Center Jared Wilson is expected to be fine in the middle. But where do the Patriots go from there?
Vrabel spoke on Saturday about the injury to Ben Brown and put the recovery time at four weeks. He was solid in the role a year ago. Andrew Rupcich was the next man up, and he was placed on season-ending injury reserve over the weekend.
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The team added center Darrian Dalcourt and guard Joe Michalski to the roster in a corresponding move. Neither has any NFL game experience.
In Thursday night’s preseason game, when Brown went down, it was rookie Jacob Rizy, an undrafted free agent out of Florida State, who was forced into extra duty.
Lomu taking on serious responsibilities
That leaves Lomu as a possible answer if the team can’t find reliable help inside. Vrabel mentioned earlier in camp that he might get a look inside. Clearly, playbook overload – the fear of putting too much on the kid’s plate – is part of the team’s thought process.
“I think we just, what happens is, where do you feel like he can make the most strides, and you don’t want to derail the improvement that he’s making and some of those things,” said Vrabel.
“I think Caleb’s been working hard. He’s been trying to improve, but I think at some point we will need to do that as well, and that’s just trying to be fair to the kid and the player as he’s developing and learning this game and this league, and then at some point in time probably have to take a look in there.”
