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Drafted as one of the top centers in the 2025 NFL Draft, it did not take long for Jared Wilson to find his way into the Patriots starting lineup.
However, that spot came at left guard as part of New England finding their best starting five up front.
Wilson went on to start 17 games over his rookie season at left guard. But, struggles down the stretch — which was capped off by a poor Super Bowl performance — may result in Wilson kicking back to his natural center position moving forward. At this point in the offseason, head coach Mike Vrabel was not ready to make any declarations.
“I don’t want to make any guarantees. I hope nobody in our organization wants to make any guarantees,” Vrabel said at the NFL Combine. “We’re going to try to play with the best five, and we’re going to try to put our players in the best situation for them, and sometimes we also ask them to maybe do what’s best for the football team in order to get the best five or in order to get the best three receivers, or in order to get the best D-line combination. So that’s what we’ll continue to do.”
Beginning as a backup guard at the University of Georgia, Wilson moved to center midway through his collegiate career and started his final year at the position. He earned All-SEC honors in 2024 before posting one of the top Combine performances in the history of the position.
“There’s openness to everything with him,” Executive Vice President of Player Personnel Eliot Wolf said. “He had never played guard before. He had good moments and bad moments, but he certainly has the physical ability to play there, and he’s also got the intelligence and the vocal ability to play center. So I think those are conversations that we’re still having.”
After being selected in the third-round of the 2025 NFL Draft, Wilson opened training camp as the team’s backup center behind Garrett Bradbury. With a need at left guard, he quickly took over in that role and did not rep at center for the rest of the summer.
Despite starting the rest of the season at left guard, New England had Wilson continue to prepare as a center as well throughout the year.
“Jared worked at both positions,” Vrabel said. “We asked him to prepare as a starter each week at center, even though he didn’t have to. So I’m sure that he’ll do the same thing when we start [the voluntary offseason program] April 20.”