As second-stint Patriots OC Bill O’Brien installs his offense, the team has seen improved form — in June, that is — from Mac Jones. Following a strange season that featured a career defensive coach given the play-calling reins on offense, New England looks to be in better shape on the whole on that side of the ball.
The team also has a strong interior offensive line contingent, being set to use the Cole Strange–David Andrews–Michael Onwenu trio it played inside last season. But New England may have an issue at tackle. Trent Brown missed the start of the team’s minicamp this week and could not finish practice Tuesday, per NBC Sports Boston’s Tom Curran, who notes the mammoth left tackle needed to be relocated to a side field for conditioning work.
Brown signed a two-year, $13MM deal to stay with the Patriots in 2022 and was moved to the left side — where he played in 2018 to set up a monster Raiders payday — last summer. But the veteran blocker has struggled to stay on the field for many years. Brown did play all 17 games last season but missed eight in 2021, 11 in 2020, five in 2019 and six in 2017.
The Patriots have included weight bonuses in Brown’s latest contract. They indicate a preference against Brown playing above 365 pounds, with the bonuses — totaling $750K — rewarding the 6-foot-8 tackle for moving down below that weight over the offseason. Brown carries the Pats’ third-highest cap figure this year ($12.25MM), though only $3MM is guaranteed ahead of Week 1. The former 49ers draft pick worked out on his own this offseason, skipping OTAs. Releasing Brown would create $8MM in cap space for the Pats, though that might be premature given his talent when available.
New England was linked to potentially diving into the robust right tackle market in March. But the top options (Mike McGlinchey, Jawaan Taylor, Kaleb McGary) landed elsewhere. It is not exactly uncharacteristic — 2021 notwithstanding — for the Patriots to stand down in free agency, but their O-line does not include a player earning more than $6.5MM on average. Rather than move into the deep waters at right tackle, the Pats added 12th-year veteran Riley Reiff on a one-year, $5MM deal. That contract features more guaranteed money ($4.15MM) than the Pats gave Brown on his two-year pact, but Reiff entered last season as a Bears backup and missed the second half of the 2021 campaign due to injury.
Reiff did emerge as the Bears’ right tackle starter midway through the season, and Pro Football Focus tabbed him as a middle-of-the-road starter (51st, eight spots behind Brown). But he will turn 35 later this year and, per MassLive.com’s Karen Guregian, spent time with the backups during minicamp. The team added ex-Broncos swing tackle Calvin Anderson and re-signed Conor McDermott, whom it initially plucked off the Jets’ practice squad last season. Fourth-round pick Sidy Sow, a six-year Eastern Michigan cog, is also converting from guard to tackle ahead of his rookie year.
Regarding free agents, three-year Jets starter George Fant (60 career starts) may be the best available. Multi-stint Patriot Marcus Cannon is also unattached, but the Pats look to have their swing spots covered. The Titans released former Pro Bowler Taylor Lewan in February, but knee trouble is threatening to cut the former first-rounder’s career short.
The Bengals’ deep right tackle competition, which is pitting Jonah Williams against La’el Collins and Jackson Carman, is worth monitoring for every team with a shaky tackle situation. Collins’ status, in particular, will be notable once he recovers from the ACL tear he sustained in December. The rebuilding Cardinals now have a healthy D.J. Humphries and a re-signed Kelvin Beachum joining first-rounder Paris Johnson and primary Humphries 2022 fill-in Josh Jones.
New England has a recent history obtaining a starting tackle via offseason trade, nabbing Brown from San Francisco in April 2018 and then reacquiring him in March 2021. Brown’s performance — during his age-25 season — helped the Patriots to their sixth Super Bowl win and earned him a then-tackle-record deal in 2019. Isaiah Wynn, who succeeded Brown in 2019, did not pan out as a Patriot, despite effective stretches, and signed with the Dolphins this offseason.
The Pats passed on the opportunity to draft Broderick Jones in Round 1 this year, trading out of No. 14 to give the Steelers that opening, indicating relative confidence their tackle plan will hold up. But Brown’s health and fitness level again looms as crucial to a team attempting to develop a first-round quarterback. After the Matt Patricia–Joe Judge experiment led to a Jones step back last year, the team is exiting minicamp with a potentially glaring issue on its offensive front.
I’m curious as to what 40 yard dash times you would get from a 30 yr old tackle who is 6-8 and 380 lbs.
Do you have a sundial?