Bengals executive Trey Brown turns down Patriots’ interview request, per report

New England has started its search for a new head of football operations.

Four months after Bill Belichick’s departure, the New England Patriots have started their search for a new head of football operations. However, the first candidate linked to the vacant position — be it called general manager or something else — has already turned down an opportunity to interview with the club.

Trey Brown, a senior personnel executive with the Cincinnati Bengals, has declined to pursue the job. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero was first to report Brown’s decision.

Belichick previously held the position of head coach and quasi-general manager throughout his 24-year tenure in New England. While the former role was filled by promoting assistant coach Jerod Mayo, the latter remained unoccupied through free agency and the draft.

Under these circumstances, director of scouting Eliot Wolf was given authority to make personnel decisions. The expectation is that Wolf will be the leading candidate to take over a position the NFL refers to as “primary football executive.”

Nonetheless, the organization is required to do a formal search process. Under the league’s so-called Rooney Rule at least two minority candidates need to be interviewed for top-level jobs.

The 39-year-old Brown would have met that criteria, and also would have brought an impressive track record to the Patriots.

A former defensive back out of UCLA, who briefly spent time with the Chicago Bears and in the now-defunct UFL, Brown began his career as an executive in 2010. He actually got his start in New England, first serving as a scouting assistant before being promoted to area scout in 2011.

After two years at the job, he joined the Philadelphia Eagles and over the next six seasons climbed the organizational ladder. After working as an area scout, he was promoted to assistant director of college scouting and director of college scouting — helping the Eagles win their first Super Bowl during the 2017 season. However, he decided to leave Philadelphia in 2019 to fill top-level positions in the upstart AAF and XFL.

In 2021, he returned to the NFL as a member of the Bengals. He worked as a scout in his first year, before taking his current role as senior personnel executive.