Trent Brown had a career season with the Patriots in 2018, serving as a stalwart on New England’s offensive line over the course of the franchise’s Super Bowl LIII-winning season.
Brown’s former position coach seems to believe the colossal left tackle can resurface that level of dominance with the Patriots once again in 2021.
Brown reportedly is back with New England following a pit stop in Las Vegas. A few days after the Patriots’ reported deal with the Raiders went down, former New England offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia offered his two cents on the 27-year-old.
“I like Trent. I think he’s got talent, I think he’s got immense talent,” Scarnecchia told the Boston Herald’s Karen Guregian. “I really enjoyed our time together. It definitely had some growing pains, but it was a very good time.”
Scarnecchia continued: “I think he can be a guy that you can run behind. He can make the tough blocks on the back side, and he’s a really good pass-blocker for multiple reasons.
“He’s so big, and he’s so long. He’s just a big guy to run around, and he’s really a hard guy to rush through. And, I think he loves challenges. The better the players, the more attention he pays. He really gets into it.”
Brown recently has made it clear how much he enjoyed his lone season with the Patriots to date as well as how excited he is to return to Foxboro. Perhaps that’s because Brown believes New England’s coaching staff can get the most out of him.
“I think what happened early on (in the 2018 season), you could just see in the way he was moving around to start practice where his mindset was, ‘I’m taking this day off,'” said Scarnecchia. “If allowed to do that, he would do it. But, we just didn’t allow him to do that. We’d tell him, ‘Hey look, this ain’t going to be the way it’s going to happen.’ It may have been said in a different tone, and not as nice as that, but once he got beyond all that, it was an absolute pleasure to be around him, and to coach him, especially the way he played for us.
“The last two-thirds of the year, and in particular in the playoffs, I think he was really exceptional in the playoffs.”
Of course, Brown won’t be returning to a Patriots team similar to the one he left a few years ago. Tom Brady, who likely played a part in keeping Brown motivated and on track in 2018, is long gone and New England’s quarterback situation remains uncertain.
As such, it will be interesting to see how effective Brown can be for a team that very well could encounter significant offensive struggles next season.
