Patriots

Patriots activate Trent Brown, place Jamie Collins on injured reserve

Brown's been out since injuring his calf in Week 1.

Trent Brown returns to the Patriots' active roster.

November 13, 2021

Saturday’s injured reserve situation brought a bit of good news and bad news for the Patriots.

The good news is that Trent Brown’s been activated from IR. However, in order to make room for Brown on the active roster, the Patriots placed linebacker Jamie Collins on IR.

Brown hasn’t played since the opening drive of the Patriots’ Week 1 loss, suffering a calf injury. After weeks of being a limited participant at practice for four weeks and a game-time decision following Week 1, the Patriots placed Brown on IR a day prior to their Week 5 win over the Texans.

In their first handful of games without Brown, who was the team’s starting right tackle, the Patriots struggled to find someone to fill in his place. Michael Onwenu, who began the year as the team’s starting left guard, has given the Patriots solid play since becoming the team’s starting left tackle in Week 7 against the Jets. Jones has been sacked just four times in the last three games, all of which the Patriots have won.

With Onwenu providing solid play on the right side, it’s been speculated that Brown could move over to left tackle – where he played during the 2018 Patriots’ Super Bowl-winning season. Isaiah Wynn, who’s currently the team’s starting left tackle, has been up-and-down throughout the season, but his run blocking seems to be grading out well in recent weeks. Over the course of the Patriots’ three-game winning streak, Wynn’s ranked as the best run blocker in the league by Pro Football Focus but he’s allowed a sack and four pressures in pass protection.

As for Collins, he was out of practice all week due to an ankle injury. Collins, whom the Patriots brought back as a free agent prior to their Week 5 win over the Texans, has given the Patriots solid production this season. He’s recorded seven tackles (two for a loss), a sack, and an interception in five games since rejoining the Patriots.

By rule, Collins will miss at least three by getting placed on injured reserve – ruling him out for Sunday’s game plus the Week 11 matchup against the Falcons and the Week 12 game against the Titans.