The Raiders are making some serious noise in March. On Monday, the club agreed to sign former Patriots tackle Trent Brown to a four-year, $66MM deal, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. The pact, which includes $36.75MM guaranteed, will make Brown the highest-paid offensive lineman in NFL history. 
The league-wide dearth of quality offensive lineman has taken the OL market to previously unforeseen heights. Brown had an excellent platform season in his first (and only) year with the Patriots in 2018, but few expected him to break the bank in this fashion.
Last year, Brown started in all 19 regular and postseason games for New England en route to a Super Bowl championship. Pro Football Focus was bullish on his performance, ranking him 32nd among 80 eligible linemen.
The Raiders already had a left tackle in UCLA product Kolton Miller, but he’ll be shifted back over to the right side, Schefter hears (Twitter link). Miller, who many felt was a reach at No. 15 overall in last year’s draft, produced mixed results in his 16 starts last year. The youngster may have a greater comfort level on the opposite side of Brown.
Meanwhile, veteran Donald Penn is a “strong candidate for release,” according to Michael Gehlken of the Review- Journal (on Twitter). By cutting Penn, the Raiders can save $7.225MM against the 2019 cap. Due to injuries, the usually durable Penn was limited to only four games in 2018.
Is it my imagination or isn’t Tyron Smith the highest paid lineman in history
Lol and teams expect you to believe they just started talking to players and their agents. Yea right. No deal like this comes together 20 mins into free agency without being talked about before. Good deal though. They are clearly going at it on the offensive side through trade and free agency and probably will go defense with the draft.
Also, if the Raiders have an offense that can move the chains, it alleviates some pressure off the defense by letting them catch their breath. Gonna be an interesting free agents period.
Why raiders brown was terrible with the 49ers and it’s not like he was great with the pats last year he was average to above average not elite and that’s with the pats every o linemen is better with the pats. He was barely a top 50 o lineman last year and now he’s the highest paid ever
Because the LT position is one of the rarest positions to become available on the market. Yes he struggled in SF but keep in mind he was a 7th round pick so there was likely a long learning curve. Then the Pats showed he could play st a higher level. Belichick doesn’t let just anyone protect Brady’s blind side. This is a good move for the Raiders. It allows Kolton Miller to continue to grow at RT which was a huge weakness last season
I think I’ll just defer to logic. The Patriots, probably the greatest organization in NFL history, shrewd decisions have been their hallmark, didn’t want to keep him. He’s barely better than 60% of eligible linemen.
Logic says he should NOT be the highest paid OL in history. Not even close. Btw, a little research will reveal that the knock on Brown from the niners and pats is that he does not study playbooks and does not prepare. Essentially the main reason he was deemed non-essential.
Apparently, if your name is Brown, you too could play for the Raiders. Maybe Tim and Jim should come out of retirement.
This is an absolutely absurd contract. Signing Brown might be a good move for the Raiders, but you cannot make me believe that he was getting offered anywhere close to this amount elsewhere. He was better with the Pats than the Niners but nowhere near elite.
True, better with the pats because niners aren’t the pats—higher probability of success with an established team. But you’d think both would want. Niners cuz they’re building and pats cuz they’re already built. It’s a crazy signing
Larry Brown is laughing somewhere.
Another comp pick for NE. Keep them coming. BB will draft a much cheaper and better option.