What once looked like a promising season for the Oakland Raiders has come crashing down with four straight losses, effectively ending any hopes they had at making the postseason.
The Raiders were the surprise team of the NFL for a while, but it was eventually their youth and inexperience that caught up with them in the latter half of the season.
Additionally, missing a number of key players due to injuries has not helped at all. One key player that has missed the last two games is right tackle Trent Brown.
Brown was one of the Raiders’ big offseason acquisitions after signing a record-breaking contract for an offensive tackle in free agency. He has earned that money while on the field, recently being named to his first career Pro Bowl.
He suffered a pectoral injury in the Week 13 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs though, and it appears that will mark the end of his season. Raiders head coach Jon Gruden announced that the injury is not improving, so he will be placed on injured reserve, via Scott Bair of NBC Sports:
The Raiders will place RT Trent Brown on injured reserve. His injured pectoral muscle just isn’t getting any better, Gruden said.
— Scott Bair (@BairNBCS) December 18, 2019
While their chances of reaching the postseason are slim, the Raiders have not officially been eliminated yet, so this is a big loss for their offense.
Brandon Parker has started the last two games in Brown’s place and likely will do so for the final two games of the year against the Los Angeles Chargers and Denver Broncos.
As great as it would be to finish out the season strong with wins over division opponents to get to 8-8, it makes sense to shut Brown down to ensure that he does not injury his pec even more and can be 100 percent healthy going into 2020.
