Patriots still far from done with OL after signing Trent Brown
By Mike Luciano
The New England Patriots took a while to finally make their first impact free agent signing, but they made sure that one of their best players was going to be retained. Trent Brown signed a two-year contract that should help keep Mac Jones upright for the foreseeable future.
Brown has bounced around the league a bit despite the fact he’s a Pro Bowl-level player. Noticing that the options outside of Brown were starting to get fairly barren, Bill Belichick gave him the contract he was looking for. With Jones a largely immobile quarterback, keeping Brown in town is a major victory.
While New England still needs to address their depleted secondary and mediocre wide receiver room, don’t assume that Belichick is completely done with the offensive line just yet. He still has more financial assets and draft capital to burn, and that could lead to some new faces there.
Isaiah Wynn is an impending free agent, Brown’s deal will expire after the 2023 season, and some reliable faces of yesteryear have found new homes this offseason. Quite simply, the Patriots must make at least one more seismic move before they can consider the line to be fixed.
Don't rule out an OT for the Patriots at 21st overall in the 2022 NFL draft.
— Henry McKenna (@McKennAnalysis) March 21, 2022
Isaiah Wynn is a free agent in 2023. Trent Brown's deal is 2 years (and we'll see what guarantees he'll have past this year). The position is too important not to have a long-term plan.
The New England Patriots need more offensive line help.
Wynn has missed so much time due to injuries over the last few years that it’s fair to wonder if he’ll ever become the player New England thought he would be after his career at Georgia. Leaning on Wynn and Michael Onewnu is a nice idea, but New England should look to add more veterans.
The Patriots parted ways with two potential starters on the offensive line this offseason. Not only was Ted Karras lowballed before signing with the Bengals, but Shaq Mason was traded to the Buccaneers for pennies on the dollar. This line is by no means set in stone at the moment.
Patriots’ free-agent OT Trent Brown agreed this morning to a two-year deal to return to New England per his agents, @DrewJRosenhaus and @JasonRosenhaus.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 21, 2022
If they do decide to load up on offensive linemen in the draft to pair with Brown, this draft isn’t exactly short on options. Northern Iowa’s Trevor Penning continues to pick up momentum, while Minnesota’s Daniel Faalele might be the only player that can match up with Brown from a size perspective.
While the Patriots will need to make some extra maneuvers, they should take solace in the fact that they convinced Brown to stay in New England. Linemen don’t come much bigger than this, and that ability to nullify even the most effective bullrush should be a major boon for Jones and this offense.
