Patriots made Michael Onwenu one of the NFL’s highest-paid offensive linemen

The Patriots re-signed the versatile offensive lineman to a three-year contract this week.

After the New England Patriots used the transition tag on safety Kyle Dugger, only one of their two big unrestricted free agents remained heading into this week: offensive lineman Michael Onwenu. The former sixth-round draft pick, who had started 56 games over his first four years in New England, was considered one of the top linemen to enter the market.

Naturally, bringing him back was not going to be cheap. The Patriots were still willing to make the investment: signing Onwenu to a three-year, $57 million contract, his $19 million average per year places him among the highest-paid linemen in the NFL at his potential positions.

Onwenu, who started games at all of the following spots, would be the second-highest paid left guard in football, the third-highest paid right guard, and the fourth-highest paid right tackle. No matter how New England’s new-look coaching staff will eventually use him, the 26-year-old is being paid to be a top performer independent of position.

Michael Onwenu: Contract details

2024:
Base salary: $2 million*
Signing bonus: $7.5 million*
Roster bonus: $1 million
Workout bonus/Weight clause: $500,000
Salary cap hit: $10.94 million

2025:
Base salary: $12 million*
Signing bonus: $7.5 million*
Roster bonus: $1 million
Workout bonus/Weight clause: $500,000
Salary cap hit: $21 million

2026:
Base salary: $16 million
Signing bonus: $7.5 million*
Roster bonus: $1 million
Workout bonus/Weight clause: $500,000
Salary cap hit: $25 million

*fully guaranteed

The Patriots fully-guaranteed $36.5 million of Onwenu’s $57 million contract, which also ranks in the top four at each of the three positions listed above. His salaries both this year and next are guaranteed, as is his entire $22.5 million signing bonus proration spread out in equal parts over the length of the deal.

As a consequence of those $7.5 million installments, Onwenu playing out his deal in New England seems like a safe bet. Due to the dead cap associated with that bonus, the team has little financial incentive to release him at any point before he is set to enter free agency again in 2027. In fact, it might make sense for the team to approach him about a new extension ahead of 2026 in order to bring his non-guaranteed salary down and reduce what is currently set to be a $25 million cap charge.

Obviously, though, a lot can and will happen before the Patriots and Onwenu have to make those type of decisions. If we look at the deal strictly from an as-is perspective, meanwhile, we can see that his cap charge for 2024 stands at a relatively manageable $10.94 million — the fifth-highest number on the team at the moment.

In addition to his fully-guaranteed $2 million salary and the aforementioned signing bonus proration, he also has a $500,000 workout bonus and weight clause in his contract as well as a $1 million roster bonus that breaks down to $58,824 per game. With him being inactive for last year’s season opener, only $941,176 of it is considered likely to be earned for the 2024 season.

Those workout and roster bonuses remain in place for the other two years of the contract as well. If he stays available and in shape, he stands to be paid quite handsomely on top of his already sizable guarantees.

All in all, both the Patriots and Onwenu — who parted ways with his agents before the start of free agency, mind you — can feel good about the team. The club gets one of its best offensive players for at least the next three years, while he stands to enter free agency again in 2027 at the age of 29.