Trent Brown is one of the NFL’s premier offensive tackles, and Rob Ninkovich knows that firsthand.
Brown is back with the New England Patriots, where he had the most successful season of his NFL career in 2018. The Patriots reportedly traded the Las Vegas Raiders a fifth-round pick in exchange for Brown and a seventh-rounder, a move that’s allowed New England’s offensive line for next season to take shape.
Many Patriots players (and Derek Carr) were quick to laud the news, which Brown confirmed Tuesday on Instagram. Among them was former Pats edge rusher Rob Ninkovich, who recalled on Instagram just how much trouble he had playing against Brown.
“Only guy I’ve said to myself “I just can’t set it” ⛸⛸😂,” Ninkovich wrote on Brown’s post.
Back in Week 11 of the 2016 season, the Patriots faced the San Francisco 49ers, where Brown at the time was protecting Colin Kaepernick. We have to assume this is what led Ninkovich to make his claim, as the edge rusher only had one quarterback hit the entire game.
To be fair, that game did happen in the final year of Ninkovich’s career, so it’s not like Brown was facing the peak version of the linebacker. Nevertheless, we’ll take Ninkovich’s word for it that Brown is a pretty tough guy to set the edge against.
