3 overrated moves of the Patriots 2024 offseason 

Re-signing Mike Onwenu while allowing Trent Brown to leave 

Onwenu didn’t have a great season in 2023; PFF awarded him the lowest grade of his career. He allowed three sacks and drew four penalty flags. 

The Patriots didn’t have much say in Brown leaving. He made it clear throughout the season that he wasn’t happy with how the 2023 campaign panned out.  

The former 49er was particularly critical of how the team handled Malik Cunningham; Brown believed the rookie should have started at quarterback. Cunningham played just six snaps in 2024 and, after taking a sack, was eventually signed by the Ravens after the Patriots cut him. 

But money talks, and if the Patriots had offered Brown enough money while outlining how the new coaching setup planned to renovate the offense, they could have persuaded him to stay. 

They instead decided to make Onwenu the ninth highest-paid right tackle in the league (or the seventh highest-paid guard, depending on where he lines up) one week after signing former Steelers right tackle Chukwuma Okorafor to a deal worth $4 million. 

Losing Brown could well work out in the long run. He is 31, and both Onwenu and Okorafor are younger. But the team is now left without a specialist left tackle while it has eight specialist right tackles. 

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