Patriots Reportedly Made This Change To Trent Brown’s Contract

New details have surfaced about Trent Brown’s reworked Patriots contract.

New England last week tweaked the veteran offensive tackle’s deal to add an additional $2 million in incentives, bumping the max overall value to $13 million.

On Sunday, ESPN’s Mike Reiss reported the team also lowered one of Brown’s incentive benchmarks to make it easier for the 30-year-old to reach.

“One of the incentives for Brown to reach was 95% of the offensive snaps, which wouldn’t have been possible after he missed last week’s game with a concussion,” Reiss wrote. “So they lowered it to 93%, which is still within Brown’s reach if he remains on the field for the rest of the season.”

Brown played every offensive snap at left tackle in the Patriots’ season-opening loss to the Philadelphia Eagles but sat out the team’s Week 2 loss to the Miami Dolphins. He cleared concussion protocol this week and was removed from New England’s injury report Friday, clearing him to play Sunday against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium.

The Patriots badly need Brown, who’s set to hit free agency next spring, to remain healthy and effective moving forward. Their injury-depleted O-line has struggled thus far to both clear holes in the run game and protect quarterback Mac Jones, who was sacked four times against Miami.

That group should be the healthiest it’s been all season Sunday, assuming guards Mike Onwenu and Cole Strange are able to play after being listed as questionable. Both made their season debuts against the Dolphins and showed signs of rust after missing all or most of training camp.

Brown, Strange, Ownenu and center David Andrews make up four-fifths of the Patriots’ preferred starting O-line. It’s unclear whether head coach Bill Belichick intends to stick with Calvin Anderson at right tackle or make a change after Anderson struggled in each of the first two games. Vederian Lowe, who started in Brown’s spot last week, would be the most logical replacement option.