FOXBORO, Mass. — Barring a surprise, Trent Brown and Riley Reiff will open organized team activities as the New England Patriots’ two starting offensive tackles.
That duo’s exact alignment, however, remains a mystery.
Brown and Reiff both are NFL veterans with extensive experience at right and left tackle. Brown has played both for the Patriots, primarily lining up on the right side in 2021 but playing on the left in 2018 and 2022. Reiff, who signed a one-year, $5 million contract with New England in March, was a left tackle for eight of his first nine years in the league, but all of his snaps over the last two seasons came at right tackle.
Thus far, Patriots players and coaches have not offered any hints about how the two offensive line bookends will be deployed this season. Reiff deflected a question about his preference Tuesday when speaking with New England reporters for the first time.
“I’m just an offensive lineman,” the 34-year-old said. “Whatever the coaches want me to do, I’ll do it.”
But the Patriots’ initial O-line plan soon will be revealed. Organized team activities — full-squad, non-contact spring practices — begin next Monday, with the first session open to the media scheduled for next Thursday.
Will the Patriots keep Brown and Reiff at the positions they played in 2022? Will they flip them, moving Reiff back to his natural spot and giving Brown another go on the right side, where he excelled in 2021? Will someone like fellow veteran newcomer Calvin Anderson, returning contributor Conor McDermott or redshirted 2022 draft pick Andrew Stueber push either for a starting job?
However that competition shakes out, the Patriots will be hoping to find a steadier O-line solution than they had last season, when they cycled through four different starting right tackles and got inconsistent play from Brown on the left side.
Shoring up their underperforming line was a clear priority for the Patriots this offseason. They signed Reiff and Anderson in the opening days of NFL free agency, then used three mid-round draft picks on linemen (center/guard Jake Andrews, guard/tackle Sidy Sow and guard Atonio Mafi). New England also made an important change to its coaching staff, bringing in Adrian Klemm to replace Matt Patricia.
Patricia, a defensive coach for most of his career, was tasked with both coaching New England’s O-line and calling offensive plays in 2022 — an unorthodox setup that yielded disastrous results. Klemm, whom Reiff called “an awesome coach (and) teacher,” is a former Patriots lineman with a decade of experience coaching the position.
