Free agency hits Patriots hard

The NFL's legal tampering period begins with defensive end Trey Flowers and offensive tackle Trent Brown reportedly agreeing to deals with the Detroit Lions and the Oakland Raiders, respectively.

The NFL’s version of “March Madness” is upon us.

Free agency season is here.

While no deals can officially be signed until Wednesday at 4 p.m. when the new league year begins, the impact upon the reigning Super Bowl champions has already been big.

Literally.

What the league calls its “legal tampering period” was literally minutes old on Monday when ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Trent Brown, the Patriots’ 6-foot-8, 380-pound offensive left tackle, intends to sign a contract that befits the size of the man himself: $66 million over four years with the Oakland Raiders (with $36.75 million of that guaranteed), a deal that would make him the highest-paid offensive lineman in league history.

Hours later, Schefter reported that defensive end Trey Flowers intends to sign a five-year deal with Detroit (where he’ll be reunited with Patriots defensive coordinator-turned-Lions head coach Matt Patricia) that is expected to pay him in the neighborhood of $16-$17 million per year.

While neither can be classified as a surprise, those are major hits, indeed, to the Patriots’ lines.

The Patriots appeared to be bracing themselves for Flowers’ departure last Friday when word broke that they were sending a fifth-round pick in the 2020 draft to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for defensive end Michael Bennett and a seventh-round choice next year.

At 25 years old, it was no secret that Flowers had positioned himself for a hefty pay raise from the rookie contract he’s been playing – and producing – under as a fourth-round pick in the 2015 draft (a base salary of $1.9 million last season). With 7-1/2 sacks in 2018, Flowers upped his total to 21 over the past three seasons, leading the team in that department in each of those years. He had a team-leading six tackles and 2-1/2 sacks of Matt Ryan in the Patriots' 34-28 overtime victory over the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI. Beyond that, Flowers brought great versatility to the Patriots’ defensive line.

Brown’s departure will leave the Patriots looking at a scenario where Dante Scarnecchia, the Patriots’ magician of an offensive line coach, will be working with the third different starter on quarterback Tom Brady’s blind side in as many years.

It appears as though 2018 top draft pick Isaiah Wynn is now next in line, succeeding Brown, who followed Nate Solder (who struck it rich with the New York Giants last March) as the team’s starter at left tackle. Wynn, of course, has yet to play a down in the league, having lost his rookie season to a torn Achilles suffered in the Patriots’ second preseason game last August.

Acquired last April from San Francisco, along with a fifth-round pick in the 2018 draft, in exchange for a third-round choice, Brown’s play played a major role in the Patriots’ Super Bowl LIII championship. Like Flowers, Brown’s departure will put the Patriots in line to receive a third-round compensatory draft pick in 2020.

The Patriots’ remaining unrestricted free agents are still numerous: punter Ryan Allen, defensive tackle Malcom Brown, wide receiver Phillip Dorsett, place-kicker Stephen Gostkowski, running back Jeremy Hill, wide receiver Chris Hogan, linebacker Ramon Humber, offensive lineman Ulrick John, linebacker Albert McClellan, wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson, cornerback Jason McCourty, cornerback Eric Rowe, defensive tackle Danny Shelton, defensive end John Simon and offensive tackle LaAdrian Waddle.

Numbers released by the players association on Friday, before word broke that the Patriots would be acquiring Bennett, put the team at more than $23 million under the league’s salary cap figure of $188.2 million, right in the middle of the pack (16th in the league). Bennett will bring a cap hit of $7.2 million.

As it stands now, with Dorsett, Hogan and Patterson all free to leave, Julian Edelman is the only wide receiver with more than one career reception to his name currently under contract to the Patriots (special teamer Matthew Slater caught one pass eight years ago).

Although largely anticipated, with Trent Brown’s departure, Waddle’s worth to the team as a swing tackle would seem to have just increased.

On the other side of the ball, the hits in the defensive line may not be over, what with two tackles (Malcom Brown and Shelton) and another end (Simon) all free to leave.

The Patriots’ special teams could be in for major change with both of their kickers, Gostkowski and Allen, as well as Humber and McClellan, two players whose in-season acquisitions helped shore up those units last season, free agents.