Has Trent Brown Quit on the New England Patriots?

Trent Brown was listed as one of the inactive players for the New England Patriots on Sunday. But a combination of clues makes it appear the big tackle has thrown in the towel on his tenure with New England.

Through the Patriots first eight games of the season, Brown was playing some of the best football of his career. He was ranked as the top offensive tackle in the AFC by Pro Football Focus. He had missed only one game (Week 2 vs. Miami). Brown played 100% of the offensive snaps in six games, and 95% in the other he played in. Halfway through the season, Trent Brown was one of the few bright spots on a struggling squad.

The second half of the season has been a different story. Brown has played in only four of the past eight games. Even in the games Brown has appeared, he has been a limited participant. He averages playing 59.5% of offensive snaps during his second half showings, never surpassing 76%. He has had a limited (non-starter) role in three of those games.

Inactive Against the Bills

Sunday against Buffalo, Brown was inactive once again. The reasoning is very much in question.

Following the game, Bill Belichick was asked about the decision to keep Trent Brown inactive.

“Activated players who want to play,” Belichick responded.

A follow up asked if motivation has been an issue for Brown, stating reports indicate that is the case.

Belichick answered, “you’d have to talk to whoever gave that report.”

The third question asked why Brown wasn’t one of the players activated. Based on the question, it appeared the reporter misheard Belichick’s first response. Belichick cut off the question before the sentence was complete.

“Cause we activated other players.”

On Monday morning Belichick met with the media once again. Mike Kadlick of WEEI attempted to get some clarification on the reasoning behind Trent Brown being inactive once again. Specifically, Kadlick attempted to get the coach to clarify whether he had responded “activated players who want to play” or “activated players we wanted to play.”

“Decision by the coaching staff,” Belichick replied.

Kadlick attempted to solidify the answer again, asking, “so he (Brown) did want to go?”

“Our decision was a coaching staff decision.”

Brown Has Been Unhappy

A couple of things are obvious here. If the reason for Trent Brown being inactive was a medical reason, Belichick would have simply said so. Since that was not the reason given, it’s safe to assume that was not the case.

Brown was outspoken about how the franchise handled Malik Cunningham being on the team, and the lack of opportunities he received to play quarterback. Publicly criticizing bosses are not the actions of a man planning to stay in New England long term. Brown is a free agent after the season, and is near the top of the offensive tackle market. But he has seemed unhappy with both the team and the media at times this season.

The Patriots restructured Brown’s contract earlier this season, while still giving him the ability to test free agency after the season. It was not a move the Patriots needed to make, and appeared to be done simply for the sake of keeping Brown happy enough to play. But clearly that didn’t mean he was happy.

So now it appears that either Trent Brown is being disciplined, or has quit. Either option is not great news for Brown or the team. The New England Patriots would certainly have benefitted from having Brown protect their quarterback’s blindside whenever he was healthy enough to do so. And for Brown, performing at a high level throughout the season would have benefitted his ability to cash in during free agency.

It is unknown if Trent Brown will play next week, or where he will play next season. But it is clear that any team offering him a big contract this offseason is taking a gamble that they are hiring a quitter.