New England Patriots: 3 major reasons why shocking Trent Brown trade is home run
Second, Brown solidifies a New England Patriots offensive line in need of additions
Assuming Brown is slotted in at offensive left tackle (as he should be), that allows New England a great opportunity to cash in on this.
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First, it allows them to let the terrific but too costly Joe Thuney go and leave his offensive left guard spot. Thuney will be gone but it will save an additional $14 million in cap space. $11 million of that will go to Brown but it’s still a net cap savings of $3 million and they’ll solidify a left tackle spot that has been in flux with the annual issues of the oft-injured, Isaiah Wynn.
Wynn is very talented but injuries have curtailed his 3-year career to-date. If Brown can step in at left tackle, Wynn can move inside to a guard spot, to right tackle, or maybe even transition to center. He’s more the size of a center and if New England doesn’t re-sign David Andrews, he may be able to step in there.
Another option is to let Marcus Cannon with his cap hit of about $7 million go and insert Wynn into the right tackle position. It bolsters the Patriots offensive line by allowing the versatile and talented Wynn to maybe assume a position less demanding than the key left tackle spot and thereby stay on the field.
If not, Brown can also certainly play right tackle but this is the lesser of the two options and he should start on the left.