New England Patriots offensive tackle Trent Brown is seeking stability as he prepares to enter NFL free agency.
During an interview Sunday with “The Schultz Report,” Brown said he’s looking to land a long-term contract in order to both set down roots for his family and create a “legacy” for himself.
“For me, at this point in my career, I’m going into Year 8,” Brown said. “I would like to find a place that I could call home for the next eight years and just leave a legacy — a winning legacy — and kind of just plant roots somewhere. My kids are getting older, so all the moving around and stuff, I want them to have some familiarity with places and people. I know it’s always a lot of moving parts in this business, but I want to get somewhere I can win and build a legacy — a lasting legacy.”
Over the past five years, Brown has moved from San Francisco to New England to Oakland to Las Vegas and then back to New England, with the Patriots reacquiring him last offseason in a trade with the Raiders. His first Patriots stint — a one-year run that ended with a 2018 Super Bowl championship — landed him a four-year, $66 million contract from the Raiders.
Brown didn’t share specifics about the type of deal he’s hoping for this offseason, but he did say he wants to be “compensated fairly.”
“I’ve been the highest-paid (tackle) before; I know that’s short-lived,” he said. “You could be the highest-paid today, and next week somebody’s signing (for more). Which is not a bad thing. I’m glad that the market is ever-changing for all of us. As players, I believe that we all deserve that at some point or another.
“But I believe in being compensated fairly and being respected for my abilities and what I can bring to the table and what I can help as an offensive lineman and as a teammate. And then I just want to win and establish a legacy.”
Brown’s injury history could make the Patriots — or any other team — hesitant to offer him a long-term deal. The soon-to-be 29-year-old has missed 25 games over the past three seasons, with a calf injury limiting him to just seven snaps over the first nine weeks of the 2021 campaign.
One of the NFL’s largest players at 6-foot-8, 380 pounds, Brown mostly played well following his midseason return, starting New England’s final nine games at right tackle and allowing just one sack. He’s one of two Patriots O-line starters headed for free agency, along with left guard Ted Karras.
Later in his “Schultz Report” interview, Brown also shared another positive review of Patriots quarterback Mac Jones, who is coming off a promising rookie season. Brown was one of Jones’ earliest public advocates, saying before the start of training camp that the first-round draft pick was “going to be special.”
“I think Mac is going to be a heck of a quarterback,” Brown said. “I think he’s already a heck of a quarterback, and I think the way he works, the way he shows up to work every day, I think he’ll be a great quarterback in no time, especially with the way things are done in New England, I think he’ll be a — think about it, as a rookie, he led us to the playoffs. We went to the first round of the playoffs.
“Yeah, we weren’t as successful, and I don’t want to say that’s a successful season — in terms of the Patriot Way, in no way is that a successful season; everybody knows that the Patriot Way is Super Bowl or bust — and I hate to say moral victories, but I think we did have some small victories that we could really build off of or he could really build off of going into next year and the year after that and the year after that.
“I know Bill (Belichick) is not going to let him be mediocre. Bill’s not going to let anybody be mediocre. So I think Mac is going to be something special for a long time.”
