Although the Las Vegas Raiders appear to be adamant about making a big splash this offseason, they are still in the midst of securing enough resources to make it come to fruition.
This has led to plenty of speculation regarding the uncertain future of right tackle Trent Brown. After all, he has failed to provide much bang for his buck over the past two seasons since signing a four-year, $66 million deal in free agency.
Brown played in 11 games during his first season with the Raiders before he was limited to just five games in the 2020 campaign due to a combination of injuries and struggles with the coronavirus (COVID-19). As a result, it appears his days with the team could be numbered this offseason.
General manager Mike Mayock acknowledged that having a healthy Brown in the mix would be ideal, Las Vegas will be doing its due diligence on all their options, per ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez:
“Regarding Trent, the jury’s still out here,” Mayock said. “He’s under contract and, again, we believe in the talent of that player. There’d be nothing finer than to have Trent Brown at right tackle, protecting Derek Carr, next year, Week 1. But the jury’s out, and we still have to make some decisions on our roster in general.”
Mayock added that Brown is more than capable of proving his worth if he shows that he is up to the task:
“Trent’s whole thing is, when he’s healthy, in shape and ready to go, he’s as dominant as any tackle in football, and he proved that early in the 2019 season,” Mayock said. “Since then, it’s been kind of a roller coaster. Really, what he needs to do, I think more than anything, is get himself in the best shape of his life and come out ready to prove that he is a dominant tackle in the National Football League, and really that’s all it takes — if Trent gets in shape and stays committed, there’s not a better talent out there.”
Mayock’s comments indicate that the Raiders may be holding out some sense of hope that Brown can find a way to turn things around heading into the offseason and remain as an integral part of the offensive line. Unfortunately, they may not have the luxury of taking a risk to see it through while they still have all these notable voids to fill elsewhere on the roster.
Although Brown does not have any guaranteed money left on his deal, they may need to restructure his contract in order to trade him since he currently has a salary-cap number of $14 million for the 2021 campaign. If there are no suitors, the Raiders can also cut him in order to clear up some much-needed cap space.
