Trent Brown returned to the practice field in Foxborough this week, meaning the Patriots have 21 days to decide when or if to activate their season-opening starting right tackle from injured reserve.
Brown has been sidelined with a calf injury since the first quarter of the opener against the Dolphins, but during his Friday morning Zoom with reporters New England head coach Bill Belichick made it quite clear that his big offensive lineman has been fully invested in trying to get back on the field.
Belichick also seemingly left the door open for Brown to return to the active roster sooner rather than later.
“Trent’s all in every day,” Belichick said. “He does what we ask him to do. He’s been a little bit limited at times, but he’s tried not to let that affect what he can do. He continues to work on things that he can do. Sometimes it’s limited. But he’s made good progress and we’ll just take it day by day here. But we’ll see where we are today and then evaluate his week and go from there.”
Belichick’s comments come a few days after Patriots offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo also praised Brown’s hard work behind the scenes.
“He's working his butt off,” Bricillo said a day before Brown returned to practice. “Every time I see him around in the halls he's got a towel around his neck and sweating, so he must be doing something.
Brown’s timeline from the injury in the opener has been somewhat strange. He remained on the active roster for three games before being placed on IR on Oct. 9. New England also seemed to have some hesitancy in moving second-year lineman Mike Onwenu from left guard back to the right tackle spot he started 10 games at as a rookie last fall. Onwenu has started the last three games at right tackle.
If and when Brown returns to the roster and field, it will be interesting to see what it means for the New England line. Brown can play either tackle spot, Onwenu can play tackle or guard and left tackle Isaiah Wynn has struggled at times this year leading some to believe he’s still destined to be bumped inside to guard at some point. Before any of that is a consideration, though, Brown has to work his way back to the active roster and game day mix.
