Report: Mike Onwenu wants to stay with Patriots and ‘can only see better things ahead’

Patriots

“Yeah, I would like to be back. I’ve been here and enjoyed my four years so far.”

Mike Onwenu was one of the names frequently mentioned as a trade possibility for the Patriots before the trade deadline.

Some, including MassLive’s Mark Daniels, have called Onwenu New England’s best offensive lineman. He’s played guard in the past, but his move to right tackle has made an immediate impact for New England in recent weeks.

His contract is up at the end of the year, and some speculated whether it would be better for the Patriots to trade him and get some assets instead of letting him walk in free agency like Jakobi Meyers did last year.

However, the Patriots stood pat at the trade deadline and Onwenu made it clear to Daniels that he wants to stay in New England.

“Yeah, I would like to be back,” Onwenu told MassLive. “I’ve been here and enjoyed my four years so far. I can only see better things ahead.”

Daniels reports that Onwenu heard the trade rumors and tried to ignore them. He spent Tuesday’s trade deadline at Gillette Stadium so he could hear the news from the team first if anything happened.

“I came in here. I got some treatment, so I was looking people in the eyes,” Onwenu said. “If they were going to say something, they were going to say something.”

Tuesday was the first time in Onwenu’s career that he felt “nervous” that he might be traded, according to Daniels. Some teams opt to get active at the trade deadline when their record is sitting at 2-6. Bill Belichick’s approach was different.

“I tried not to think about it, but obviously it’s one of those deadlines where you start to think about it,” Onwenu said. “And, it just happens to fall on our off day so you’re just waiting around and looking. I’ve known a bunch of people in those situations. I haven’t. It definitely was one of those things where you have to trust God and at the end of the day you can’t do anything about it.”