Some news and notes for this morning:
1) The Patriots made a notable move on Tuesday, with Mike Reiss reporting on the fact a source informed Field Yates that the team is bringing back offensive tackle Trent Brown after making a trade with the Raiders.
The massive veteran came through in a big way during his last stint with the team, solidifying the left side of the line during the club’s Super Bowl Championship season in 2018.
There was a fair amount of uncertainty that offseason after the departure of Nate Solder in free agency, but Brown came in and grabbed hold of the position and was dominant all year. He was absolutely terrific in the ground game, with the team averaging 4.2 yards-per-carry when running behind Brown, as well as scoring 5 touchdowns.
According to Reiss, the two teams swapped late-round 2022 picks and restructured his contract. The deal also won’t become official until the start of the new league year on March 17th.
2) As the Jimmy Garoppolo discussion continues, Greg Bedard notes that a move won’t be possible for the Patriots until the 49ers figure out what his replacement is going to be.
Let’s face it, there’s no chance they’ll move him unless that happens because they would put themselves in the same position New England is currently in. They’d be in dire need of a quarterback and any team in the mix would likely take advantage of that.
As Bedard points out, they’d lose their leverage since should Kyle Shanahan try to make a move and acquire Sam Darnold or Kirk Cousins, it’s a lot easier to walk away with Garoppolo still in the fold than it would be without him.
There’s still the possibility San Francisco takes a QB in the draft but either way, they’re in the driver’s seat and any move involving the veteran QB will have to come on their terms once they get their own house in order. Unfortunately, they’re probably looking at the market the same way the Patriots are and the options likely aren’t any more attractive to them, either.
3) Dak Prescott’s contract extension was certainly a surprise, although it’s good to see Jerry Jones make a move to essentially take the Cowboys out of the mix at quarterback.
Dallas reportedly gave Prescott a 4-year deal worth a reported $140 million, with an NFL-record $126 million guaranteed. It will also include a $66 million signing bonus.
Prescott has played pretty fairly well, posting a 42-27 record as a starter for the Cowboys since taking over in 2016. He’s coming off of a tough ankle injury that he suffered last season, which was a gruesome compound fracture and a dislocation against the Giants that happened during the third-quarter. Former Patriots defensive back Logan Ryan was the player behind the injury, taking Prescott down from behind and the quarterback’s leg simply got caught underneath him.
The good news is it sounds like Prescott has had a good recovery and appears ready to eventually return to the gridiron. Thankfully, he’s now also got a little financial security behind him.
4) It appears the Patriots won’t be tagging offensive lineman, Joe Thuney.
According to published reports, the team isn’t expected to place the franchise tag on the veteran, which will make Thuney a free agent at the start of the new league year.
Thuney has been a versatile player for the club and his potential loss will sting, but he’s expected to get a big payday from someone and the Patriots are in a situation where they’ll likely need to allocate those funds elsewhere.
The Patriots selected him in the 3rd-round (78th overall) back in 2016.
5) Meanwhile, down in Tampa, the Buccaneers will be using their franchise tag on receiver Chris Godwin.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the team has informed Godwin that he’ll be tagged by the club. That will hopefully at least keep him around for another season, while potentially also buying the Buccaneers some additional time to get an extension done.
Godwin dealt with an array of injuries in 2020 but still emerged as one of Tom Brady’s more reliable targets, with the receiver finishing with 1,333 receiving yards even despite missing the final two games with an injury.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
