Over the offseason, the Raiders decided to trade away Trent Brown after signing him to a massive deal just two years ago. The front office traded him to New England after he started a combined 16 games since the 2019 season.
But did the team make a mistake by not holding onto him for one more year? Well, it depends on who you ask.
In a recent article by The Athletic’s 32 beat writers, they were each asked to write about the biggest mistake each team made this offseason. According to Vic Tafur, who covers the Raiders, that was trading away Trent Brown.
Here is a snippet of Tafur’s thoughts on the move and why the team should have kept the former Pro Bowl offensive tackle:
“They should have kept him and paid him the $14 million he was due this season, because Brown, 28, had already dropped a ton of weight this spring and is motivated for another big payday… If you’re the Raiders, and you suffered through paying Brown $22 million for the worst of him in 2020, why would you throw away your leverage and not enjoy the best of Brown in 2021? He is going to have a monster year for the Patriots while the Raiders cross their fingers and hope rookie Alex Leatherwood adjusts quickly.”
It’s entirely possible that Brown could have a monster season for the New England Patriots as he did in 2018. But the fact is that the Raiders just couldn’t trust him anymore to stay healthy and stay in shape. They have moved on and are hoping that new right tackle Alex Leatherwood can adequately replace him in the starting lineup.
For a player that was going to earn $14 million this season, it’s hard to justify paying that for Brown. Again, he could be in for a big season for the Patriots, but it’s hard to expect that he would have done the same with the Raiders after two seasons of prior evidence.
The Raiders certainly made some questionable moves this offseason, but this doesn’t appear to be the worst of them.
[vertical-gallery id=80401]
[lawrence-newsletter]