{
  "id": 2003846,
  "title": "Durability, experience attracted Patriots to free agent signing Greg Van Roten",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/19/durability-experience-attracted-patriots-to-free-agent-signing-greg",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-08-19T19:38:28.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Yahoo Sports",
    "slug": "yahoo-sports",
    "url": "https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/durability-experience-attracted-patriots-free-193828653.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Following their preseason opener, in which both of their top interior offensive line backups were sidelined, the New England Patriots took a proactive approach to address the situation. The team had recently signed two additional offensive linemen, Darrian Dalcourt and Joseph Michalski, just two days after their 13-13 tie with the Indianapolis Colts. To further enhance their unit, they brought in 12-year veteran Greg Van Roten, who made his practice debut with the Patriots on Wednesday. Head coach Mike Vrabel expressed his enthusiasm for Van Roten, stating that the veteran has started every game for three years and has experience playing interior offensive line. Van Roten, now the oldest player on the Patriots' roster at 36, joined the NFL as an undrafted rookie with the Packers in 2012. Throughout his career, he has played for nine different teams and contributed in 148 games, including 105 starts. Van Roten's versatility and durability, with 3,300 snaps over 51 starts in the last three years, made him an attractive signing for the Patriots. Additionally, his prior experience within the team's system, having played under Josh McDaniels in Las Vegas and Brian Daboll in New York, further solidified his value to the Patriots. As Ben Brown is expected to be out for multiple weeks and Andrew Rupcich is on injured reserve, the Patriots are counting on Van Roten's expertise to bolster their interior offensive line.",
  "summary": "Van Roten was signed to a one-year contract earlier this week.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}