Patriots right guard Mike Onwenu has agreed to a revised contract for the 2026 season.
According to multiple reports, Onwenu will now make $10 million in the final year of his three-year deal with the team. That’s a cut of $7.5 million from his original compensation and the payout will now be fully guaranteed.
Onwenu has started every game for the Patriots over the last two seasons and 66 of the team’s last 68 regular season contests. The 2020 sixth-round pick has made 98 career appearances for New England.
The move also creates $7.5 million in cap space for the Patriots. That could go toward another move like the long-rumored trade for wide receiver A.J. Brown, but the Patriots were already well under the cap before the move.
The clock is ticking toward June 1. Which means the time is coming for an A.J. Brown trade.
The vibe has lingered for weeks that the Eagles will trade him. At this point, there’s only one viable destination: New England.
If there was another team pursuing Brown, we’d know about it. The Eagles would have leaked it. The goal would be to pit two teams against each other in the hopes of getting the best possible return.
As it stands, it’s the Patriots or no one. And with all indications pointing to the Eagles and Brown being beyond the point of no return, Philly’s only play is to make a deal.
They’ve already planned for life without A.J. From signing Hollywood Brown and Elijah Moore to trading for Dontavian Wicks to moving up in round one to draft Makai Lemon, the handwriting isn’t just written on the wall — it’s sandblasted into it.
But what of the report that the two sides are “not particularly close”? Our guess is that the Eagles deliberately leaked it as a Hail Mary effort to get someone else to come to the table.
Remember, nothing is done until it’s done. Even if the Patriots and the Eagles have an understanding as to what the terms will be, the Eagles could pivot elsewhere if they want.
The question is whether another team will swoop in. Even if that happens, it would have to be a team that Brown is comfortable joining. No, he doesn’t have a no-trade clause. Still, no team in its right mind will trade for Brown if Brown doesn’t particularly want to play for that team.
If Brown has decided he craves a reunion with Mike Vrabel, who coached Brown in Tennessee, a new team may not be thrilled about the prospect of giving up significant value for a player who would walk through the door reluctantly.
For several weeks, it has seemed like A.J. Brown would be on his way to the Patriots once the calendar reached early June.
But there is now reporting that suggests the framework for a trade may not be done.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network said on Wednesday night that the Patriots and Eagles may still be haggling over the trade terms.
“As far as the actual trade, we’re all waiting for June 1 to happen, so the cap hit is in half for the Philadelphia Eagles and they can trade [Brown],” Rapoport said. “I just don’t know that it’s going to be like ‘snap your fingers and the deal is done,’ because the two sides are where they have been — which is the Eagles wanting a first-round pick in 2027. The Patriots — being the most likely destination, we’ll see if someone else arises — but the Patriots [are] not willing to give up a first-round pick, as of right now.
“That means they’re not particularly close, and there’s a chance this could drag on for the foreseeable future.”
But just because the two sides haven’t agreed on compensation at this point does not mean the deal won’t go through next week once the calendar hits June.
With so much smoke around Brown heading to the Patriots throughout the offseason, it would be an upset if the wideout ends up playing anywhere else in 2026.
The 2026 season will begin just as the 2025 postseason ended, with the Patriots taking on the Seahawks.
In theory, that could be bad news for quarterback Drake Maye, who was effectively running for his life on the field in Santa Clara throughout Super Bowl LX.
While this matchup will have considerably lower stakes for the two teams, Maye and the Patriots would certainly like to reverse the result in Week 1.
“I think it’s a chance for us to get some extra motivation during training camp, starting off with a bang like that — a chance to get an opponent that left a bad taste in our mouth,” Maye said in his Wednesday press conference. “So I think for us, it’s going to really make us work. We’ve got to bring it Week 1 — on the road in a tough environment. They’re going to be hanging their banner, and that’s a part of it.
“So, it’s going to be interesting, it’s going to be fun, it’s going to be a tough task. It’ll be something for us to gain some extra motivation, and make training camp better.”
Maye noted that he “definitely” watched the Super Bowl loss, largely to learn from it and see what specifically he could improve.
“For me, on the biggest stage, a big game, I had a lot of plays I wish I had back,” Maye said. “And at such a young point in my career where I can still learn so much, first time playing that defense. So, you can learn things and learn about the game. So I think there’s definitely some parts that you maybe throw [away], that I maybe skip, or know that, no, I don’t want to watch that again. But definitely the game, I think you learn so much from mistakes you make yourself.”
Maye, who finished second in AP MVP voting last season, finished Super Bowl LX 27-of-43 for 295 yards with two touchdowns, two interceptions, and a lost fumble. During the regular season, Maye completed 72.0 percent of his throws for 4,394 yards with 31 touchdowns and eight picks.
Patriots coach Mike Vrabel met with reporters on Wednesday, for the first time since a pair of brief appearances at the height of the controversy that prompted him to miss the third day of the 2026 draft.
He was asked several questions about the issue that prompted him to step away for rounds four through seven. In multiple instances, Vrabel provided a short answer that responded to the question before pivoting to meandering football-related information.
One key question, asked at the 9:39 mark of the 18-minute, 35-second press conference, was whether he anticipates missing any more football activities for the rest of the offseason program.
“I mean, I can only tell you I’m gonna be there today, and I can’t tell you anything other than I’m gonna be out there today in full force,” Vrabel said. “And I mean that because, you know, who knows what’s gonna come up? I’m not even — you know, anything could happen. And so I’m gonna focus on today. But in the excitement that we’ve had and that we’ve built so far, and the conditioning that we’ve tried to incorporate into our practices and the weightlifting and all the things that are critical.”
The drip-drip of news regarding Vrabel’s relationship with reporter Dianna Russini has slowed down dramatically in recent weeks. But there’s one major development that could still happen, at some point. Russini could tell her story, in whatever format she chooses. Depending on what she says (and when she says it), that could in theory create another complication for Vrabel.
The first question regarding the off-field issues dealt generally with the distraction the scandal created.
“We all have to deal with things, you know, outside of here,” Vrabel said, “and my focus — and obviously, the excitement that I have for coaching — is what is most important right now, and this is a great opportunity, the spring, we don’t have to worry about opponents. We don’t have to worry about, you know, our schedule is pretty much the same.
“The players, it has a routine, and each and every day in the spring is similar. But it’s just about teaching. It’s about teaching these guys the scheme. We talked about having some enhancements, offensively and defensively and special teams, of stuff that we did well, you know, but that we’ll have to, you know, either dress up or modify slightly, so that’s what the spring’s time is about, and that’s really all we know, is being able to coach these guys and to teach them, help them, help them do their job. This is the time in the spring where they can focus on, you know, not only conditioning but, you know, all the details that are gonna help them. So that’s really all I know, and that’s really all I want to be able to do.”
He also was asked this question: “When we spoke to you last you were talking about the balance of family and football. How would you describe how that process has been going?”
“Really good,” Vrabel said. “I think that that’s — again, I appreciate — my family is great. I love [my wife] Jen. I love the boys. I love, you know, my personal friends, and then, you know, this spring is focused on, really, the coaching staff, the players, more importantly, than the coaching staff, but I just, you know, seeing the coaches in the second year, how smooth the conversations are, you know, ‘Hey, we love this play, how do we make it better?’”
He continued with a lengthy explanation of the offseason program, focusing on the differences between spring practice and training camp.
The back-and-forth with the media got mildly contentious when Vrabel was asked about the manner in which the team has been responding to him based on his “daily” reading of the room.
“Well, not every day,” Vrabel said, “Some of your sources probably aren’t as good. I don’t have a team meeting every day in the spring.”
For the most part, Vrabel seemed to be the coach he has always been. But the situation that became (and remained for weeks) the biggest story in the NFL lingers.
Those fumes will continue to dissipate, unless and until Russini decides to tell her story.
