Bengals veteran RT out for season

A cart transported Trent Brown off the field during the Bengals’ loss to the Commanders on Monday night, and the veteran tackle will not return this season.

Brown suffered a patellar tendon tear, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport, who reports season-ending surgery is on tap. While Brown is expected to recover fully, he is on a one-year contract and has an extensive history of unavailability. This development will begin the Amarius Mims era in Cincinnati.

The Bengals gave Brown a one-year, $4.75M deal in March. After the team selected Mims in Round 1, Brown was moving toward a role as high-end insurance behind Cincinnati’s starters — as part of the largest tackle trio in NFL history. The 6-foot-8 blocker, however, became needed after Mims suffered a pectoral injury during training camp. Brown started the Bengals’ first three games, shifting back to right tackle after finishing his second Patriots stint on the left side.

Fortunately for an 0-3 Bengals team, Mims recovered in time to make his NFL debut Monday night. He replaced Brown at right tackle and played 39 offensive snaps in the team’s shootout loss. Mims had been on track to open the season as Cincy’s RT starter, but his chest injury reopened the door for Brown. Now, it will be Mims and Orlando Brown Jr. — a tackle tandem that figures to be in place for years in western Ohio.

Now 31, Trent Brown has encountered many health issues during an otherwise successful career. Since moving into the 49ers’ starting lineup late in his rookie season, Brown has missed 36 games. This has not included injuries in every season, as Brown delivered 16-game slates in 2016 and ’18 and then a 17-game showing in 2022. But they have cropped up consistently for a player who has also dealt with weight issues during his pro career.

The Patriots received tremendous value from their Brown pick-swap trade with the 49ers during the 2018 draft, soon turning to the former seventh-round pick as their LT starter. Brown played a key role in the Pats gliding to their sixth Super Bowl title that season, and he parlayed that into a then-tackle-record four-year, $66M Raiders deal. After a Pro Bowl showing at right tackle for the 2019 Raiders, Brown was hospitalized due to COVID-19 — during a 2020 season featuring 11 missed games — and then traded back to New England in 2021. The Pats used Brown at both right and left tackle from 2021-23, and while he played well, he became difficult to rely on in Bill Belichick‘s final years in Foxborough.

Some among the Patriots believed Brown prioritized his free agency rather than returning from injury as soon as he could last season, a 4-13 Pats campaign. A tepid market awaited him after Brown missed six games in 2023 and nine in 2021. Still, the Bengals took a flier and cut three-year swingman/spot starter Jackson Carman in August. This came after backup D’Ante Smith landed on IR. The team still has guard/tackle Cody Ford, while 2022 UDFA Devin Cochran resides on its practice squad. Cochran has yet to play a regular-season NFL game.

Considering Mims’ recent injury and a health-interrupted Georgia career that featured just eight starts, it would make sense if the Bengals considered outside options to back up their current first-string duo. This represents a brutal blow for Brown, who will rehab on an expiring contract.