Patriots free agency profile: Pharaoh Brown may have earned himself a new contract

Brown was a surprise contributor for the Patriots in 2023.

The New England Patriots are already in the middle of a franchise-altering offseason. They have a new head coach, restructured their front office, and are expected to overhaul their roster from the top down.

Free agency will be a key part of this process. And while adding external players to the mix will undoubtably happen, there are also quite a few in-house free agents to be taken care of. In total, 24 are headed toward the open market this spring and in need of a new contract.

Among them is tight end Pharaoh Brown, the next player in our free agency profile series.

Hard facts

Name: Pharaoh Brown

Position: Tight end

Opening day age: 30 (5/4/1994)

Size: 66”, 258 lbs

Jersey number: 86

Free agency status: Unrestricted free agent

Experience

Following his five-year career at the University of Washington, during which he appeared in 40 contests and caught 70 passes for 1,011 yards and 13 touchdowns, Brown went unselected in the 2017 NFL Draft. He joined the Raiders as a free agent shortly thereafter and spent his entire rookie campaign in Oakland while seeing action in two games.

However, his tenure with the Silver and Black was not meant to last. He was cut the following year, and joined the Cleveland Browns. Two years and nine in-game appearances later, he was let go again and moved to the Houston Texans for whom he saw his most extensive action to that point in his career. That did not stop him from getting cut either, and early during the 2022 season he was back in Cleveland.

Brown went on to join the Indianapolis Colts the following offseason, but did not make it out of training camp. This, in turn, allowed the Patriots to pick him up and have him first on their practice squad and later their active roster for the 2023 campaign.

In total, Brown has appeared in 72 NFL games. Primarily used as a blocker, he has caught 64 passes for 686 yards and three touchdowns.

2023 review

Stats: 17 games (11 starts) | 399 offensive snaps (38.0%), 209 special teams snaps (45.6%) | 15 targets, 13 catches (54.5%), 208 yards, 1 TD | 1 fumble (1 lost)

Season recap: As noted above, Brown began his 2023 with the Colts: he signed a one-year, minimum-salary contract with the organization in April. He did spend the entirety of training camp in Indianapolis and saw action in all three of its preseason games — catching three passes for 40 total yards — but was unable to make the 53-man roster. The veteran tight end was released ahead of roster cutdowns.

Brown was not out of a job long, signing with the Patriots practice squad the following day to reunite with his former Texans coaches Bill O’Brien and Will Lawing. Just four days after his arrival, he was promoted to the active roster and went on to spend the remainder of the season there.

Along the way, Brown saw action in all 17 games and was on the field for 399 of a possible 1,050 offensive snaps. His resulting playing time share of 38 percent ranked third among his position group behind Hunter Henry’s 63.7 and Mike Gesicki’s 50.3.

Unlike his fellow tight ends, Brown was primarily used as a blocker: of his 399 snaps, 282 saw him either run block or pass protect. He did both of that at a decent level, and even when asked to run routes was relatively effective.

In fact, he ranked second among all NFL tight ends in 2023 in yards per reception: his 16.0 on 13 catches — totaling 208 yards and a touchdown — made him one of the position’s occasional big play threats last year. Of course, the fact that he was targeted only 15 times speaks for his abilities and limitations as a receiving option.

All in all, though, Brown was one of the surprise contributors on the Patriots offense in 2023. While the cynical way to look at this is that it’s not exactly a ringing endorsement for the group’s overall qualities, Brown was trusted to play a significant role at times and generally fared well when his number was called upon both in the blocking and the receiving department.

Free agency preview

What is his contract history? Brown arrived in the NFL via a standard three-year free agency pact that remained active for only a few months. Over the subsequent years, he signed multiple contracts — some of them were renegotiated, some expired, and some terminated. Despite his lack of staying power, though, he was able to keep a steady income: Over the Cap estimates Brown’s contractual career earnings at $8.7 million.

Which teams might be in the running? The need for, and value of primary blocking tight ends is limited in this day and age. Nonetheless, there are teams who would benefit from bolstering their tight end depth such as the Chicago Bears, Los Angeles Chargers, Denver Broncos, Cincinnati Bengals, and the Patriots as well.

Why should he be expected back? Brown may not be a flashy name, but he is experienced and cheap. He also has a prior relationship with New England’s new offensive coordinator, Alex Van Pelt. While he will never be a superstar player at the tight end spot, he has shown that he can have value as a package-specific piece within an offense.

Why should he be expected to leave? The Patriots are in the process of rebuilding their entire offense, and no position on the roster should be considered safe. Brown might have played some solid football in 2023, but the team could still elect to get younger and more dynamic at tight end — two attributes that not necessarily work in the soon-to-be 30-year-old’s favor.

What is his projected free agency outcome? At the moment, La’Michael Pettway is the only tight end under contract for the 2024 season in New England. The team needs to start building somewhere, and retaining Brown on a minimum salary contract — i.e. for one year at a non-guaranteed $1.21 million — would be a way to bolster its depth. That deal would not guarantee him a spot on the team, but give the Patriots a relatively established if not necessarily “sexy” foundation to build from.

What do you think about Pharaoh Brown heading into free agency? Will the Patriots try to keep him under new leadership? Or will his former spot on the roster go to somebody else? Please head down to the comment section to discuss.