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Michael Onwenu Earns Highest PFF Marks To Begin Career Since 2006

The rookie interior lineman is having one of the best starts to a season in over a decade
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181 players heard their names called before Michael Onwenu during the 2020 NFL Draft. 

According to Pro Football Focus, he’s outplaying almost every single one of them.

Onwenu earned a 91.3 grade from PFF in the Patriots’ Week 4 matchup with the Chiefs, despite the fact that it was his first career start at right guard. The 344-pound rookie did not allow a single pressure over the course of the contest, and he did not miss a single snap. That performance was enough to earn him PFF Rookie of the Week honors, but his accomplishments don’t end there.

Through four weeks, Onwenu boasts a 92.2 grade on the season – the highest of any rookie in the entire league. That grade is also the best by any rookie through four weeks since 2006, regardless of position.

Onwenu has played in all four of the Patriots’ games so far this season, but only saw the field for 34% of his team’s offensive snaps Week 1 against the Dolphins and 40% Week 2 against the Seahawks. Since then, he started at left guard against the Raiders and right guard against the Chiefs, playing every snap across both games in the process.

With Marcus Cannon opting out of the season, David Andrews out due to finger surgery, Shaq Mason nursing a calf injury and Jermaine Eluemunor missing last game with migraines, the Patriots’ offensive line has been volatile to say the least. Onwenu has taken advantage and carved out a role for himself in the meantime, helping the Patriots boast the second-most rushing yards per game so far in 2020.

The last time the Patriots took a Michigan Wolverine in the sixth round, they wound up with Tom Brady.

Onwenu doesn’t necessarily have 14 Pro Bowls and six Super Bowl rings in his future, but he is off to quite the hot start in Foxboro.