The Patriots Get Trent Brown Back, but it Sounds Like Major Changes are Coming for Their Offense

Joshua Bessex. Shutterstock Images.

Patriots.com - According to a Monday morning report from NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, the Patriots are bringing back offensive tackle Trent Brown on a two-year deal. Brown had originally played one season with the Patriots at left tackle in 2018, winning Super Bowl 53 with the team, before departing to the Raiders for two seasons. …

Brown will turn just 29 in April as he remains in the prime of his career and helps secure a significant position of need after the team lost Ted Karras to the Bengals in free agency and traded Shaq Mason to the Bucs. With Brown's return both starting tackles and center David Andrews will all be back up front in 2022, with Michael Onwenu waiting in the wings to take over one of the guard spots.

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It's hard to overstate how huge this signing is. See, not just because the Patriots have just lost 40% of their starting offensive line, but because Trent Brown is very, very large. So the word applies not just to his importance, you see, but also to his physical stature. Because of his enormous size. Get it? It's one of those terms that works both ways! That's the kind of clever wordsmithing you don't get just any old place. 

Let us not forget that the offensive line on the whole struggled over early part of 2021. It truly bottomed out in run blocking in the Week 4 game against Tampa, and in pass protection in Week 6 vs. Dallas. But once Brown was activated and Ted Karras was installed as the primary left guard, the unit gelled and became a key part of the midseason seven game winning streak. Losing Brown the way they did in 2018 would've been yet another stress factor on a depth chart that needs a ton of work over the next few months. 

But now we not only get Brown for the next two seasons, we get his All World tattoo to entertain the fans and inspire the kids:

I vow to you, if the NFL doesn't limit press access at this summer's training camps and Brown is made available, I'm asking all the questions. 

And based on what departed free agent says, keeping Brown is even more important than we suspected, because the Patriots are eliminating a position that has been a crucial part of the Patriots blocking schemes since Marc Edwards filled the role on the 2001 champs:

Source - Josh McDaniels left his job as Patriots offensive coordinator and became head coach of the Raiders, and he soon brought fullback Jakob Johnson with him. Not that the Patriots minded. …

“The Patriots have informed me that they will no longer need my services next season simply because they will no longer have my position on the roster,” Johnson told news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur in his native Germany, via German NFL reporter René Bugner.

If this were most NFL teams, downsizing the fullback job out of existence would barely be a story. Sort Pro Football Reference's rushing yards chart by position, and you'll only find 12 names listed as "FB." Even though it's still a Pro Bowl position (Baltimore's Patrick Rickard and San Fran's Kyle Jusczcyk, respectively), fullback has been trending in the same direction as Directory Assistance Operator, Travel Agent and Patriots Spy Cameraman for over a generation now. This is just the first time we've seen it eliminated in New England. 

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Which means either the Erhardt-Perkins system they've been running since Charlie Weis brought it with him in 2000 (or if you want to get technical, since Ron Erhardt and Ray Perkins invented it in a lab in the old shithole stadium in the mid-70s) is evolving with the times, or Bill Belichick is going with something different altogether. I say it's the former. Especially with Mac Jones taking to it as easily as he did. But I'm not ruling out the latter as we move on into the Brave New World of our post-McDaniels existence. 

By way of background, Jakob Johnson was involved in 323 of the Patriots 1,165 total plays from scrimmage, or about 28%. On 235 of their 507 rushing attempts, he was run blocking, which is just over 46%. 

But according to Sharp Football Analysis, they were more successful running out of single back sets than with a fullback

Two backs:

• 20 personnel with 3 WRs - Successful run rate: 58%, YPA: 7.5, 12 attempts
• 21 personnel with 2 WRs - Successful run rate: 54%, YPA: 4.8, 185 attempts
• 22 personnel with 1 WRs - Successful run rate: 50%, YPA: 3.0, 44 attempts 

Single backs:

• 10 personnel with 4 WRs - No attempts
• 11 personnel with 3 WRs - Successful run rate: 54%, YPA: 4.8, 189 attempts
• 12 personnel with 2 WRs - Successful run rate: 45%, YPA: 4.9, 77 attempts

Which, granted, is not a clear and decisive victory for the single back running packages, it speaks to two things: The Patriots gravitated more toward a commitment to runs behind their two tight ends, or with Hunter Henry attached to the formation with 2X1s or 3-man bunches. And that I am willing to spend a ridiculous amount of time toggling back-and-forth from a blog post to a confusing analytics site in order to make an obscure point. (I do and do for you kids, and I ask so little in return for myself.) 

All this points out yet another pivot by Belichick and his staff in the ever-shifting pro football trends. The 2018 champions went big as NFL defenses went small, with Sony Michel and James White running behind James Devlin, Rob Gronkowski and Dwayne Allen. They didn't face a linebacker bigger than 240 pounds in their three postseason games as Michel averaged 112 yards per game and ran for six touchdowns. Four years later, they apparently see a future of spreading teams out more and letting White, Damien Harris and new hybrid back Ty Montgomery gash them on the ground. Preferably with Jonnu Smith contributing in ways he didn't last year. But by putting extra receivers on the field if he doesn't make a Year 2 jump. 

Whatever it ends up looking like, it's going to be nerdly fascinating to see what the attack morphs into under the guidance of whoever the hell on the staff is going to calling the plays. Regardless, it's great to have Brown back. And Auf Weidersehen to Johnson. Thanks for your service, and I'm glad McDaniels still has a use for them.