Trent Brown's agent reveals Patriots wanted to keep left tackle before he joined Raiders

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Trent Brown left the New England Patriots to sign the richest offensive lineman contract in NFL history with the Oakland Raiders, but before that, the defending Super Bowl champs did have interest in the left tackle returning to Foxboro.

Brown's agent, Drew Rosenhaus, let that be known in a recent story by Peter King on Pro Football Talk.

You saw the pictures, I assume, of Bill Belichick and girlfriend Linda Holliday in Barbados on the weekend before free-agency began. They have phones there, and Belichick was using them. “Don’t let those photos fool you,” Rosenhaus the agent told me Sunday. “We talked one morning at 4:30 about Trent Brown. They wanted to keep him.”

Brown played well for the Patriots last season, particularly in the playoffs when the offensive line as a whole gave up just one sack of quarterback Tom Brady through three playoff games. New England acquired him in a trade last April with the San Francisco 49ers.

Keeping Brown would've been a good situation for the Pats given his impressive talent and the fact he's still just 25 years old. However, it's hard to imagine the Patriots were in the same financial ballpark as the Raiders when it came to contract offers.

We've seen the Patriots let star players walk in free agency numerous times in the Bill Belichick era, and the team usually finds a player or two capable of filling the gap.

Brown, in fact, was a replacement for departed left tackle Nate Solder, who signed with the New York Giants in free agency before last season. The next man up to replace Brown likely is Isaiah Wynn, a 2018 first-round draft pick who missed all of his rookie season because of a torn Achilles.

The Patriots still need more depth at the offensive tackle position, even if Wynn is fully healthy entering training camp, so don't be surprised if they sign a veteran or look to address the position in the 2019 NFL Draft next month.

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