Over the course of the offseason, the largest need of the Cincinnati Bengals has been the right tackle position. After all, the team was left with virtually nothing on that front after 2019 first-round pick Jonah Williams left the team for Arizona during the free agency window. Williams wasn’t a strong candidate for the starting position after two below-average seasons but without him, the team was left unproven options that have never been starters in the National Football League.
Cincinnati Bengals Land Steal of the Free Agency Window
That is until Cincinnati made headlines last week when they put pen to paper on former New England Patriots offensive tackle Trent Brown. The fans finally had a legitimate option at right tackle and one that was ranked 11th best overall in the NFL last season by Pro Football Focus (PFF) with an overall score of 80.2. On top of that, Cincinnati landed Brown on a remarkably cheap one-year contract worth just shy of $4.4 million.
Interestingly enough, Brown’s contract should be a major point of concern for fans in Cincinnati. Brown just finished the best statistical season of his career when he gave up only three sacks and seventeen total pressures in 2023. The problem is that realistically, there is no reason that Brown’s contract should be as little as it is unless something is going on that hasn’t been disclosed to the media.
To summarize, Brown is a former Super Bowl Champion who just finished the best season of his career at a premium position. He is remarkably durable and can play both the left and right tackle positions. While being 30 years old may keep him from being a long-term investment in Cincinnati, it certainly doesn’t indicate that he would take a huge step backward after some of the best tackles in football play until they’re almost 40 years old. Yet somehow Cincinnati was able to bring him to Cincinnati for a minuscule salary cap hit of only $4.4 million this season? Something simply doesn’t feel right here.
On top of that, it would appear the rest of the league had picked up the same vibe when a borderline Pro Bowl-caliber offensive tackle hit free agency and virtually no one picked up the phone to call him. After almost a week and a half, Cincinnati landed him only because the team’s desperation reached critical levels at the position. While it is impossible to speculate why Brown’s market simply was nonexistent this season, there has been a concern from New England fans that Brown has issues with work ethic.
Work ethic isn’t uncommon for enormous offensive linemen but with Brown’s 370-pound frame, it could become a giant red flag quickly. Brown has a reputation for showing up to training camp out of shape and for a player who relies on size as much as he does, that can be a difficult problem to correct mid-season.
I am certainly hopeful that those rumors from New England fans who have watched him closely for his entire career are unsubstantiated. After all, Brown was the 11th-best tackle in the NFL last season according to PFF but I have to admit that I have major concerns about how much we seem to have struck gold with his contract. Typically when things look too good to be true, they usually are.
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