In case you’re wondering how former 49ers tackle Trent Brown has been doing s

ince his trade to New England: pretty damn well. He’s starting at left tackle Sunday in the Super Bowl Malcolm Smith Color Rush Jersey , favored to win, and heading into free agency with a big payday likely. A day-two mid-draft trade last spring swapped the last year of Brown’s rookie contract plus the 49ers’ second of two fifth-round picks (#143 overall) for the Patriot’s 3rd round choice (#95). Those picks turned into cornerback Tarvarius Moore, who showed strong late in the season for San Francisco, and linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley, who won a starting job at LB for New England and was playing great (14 tackles and an interception) before a torn bicep ended his season after 3 games.Once he arrived in Foxboro,Brown immediately moved to left tackle and took over the starting job from the first day of training camp. New England saved a lot of money this year by letting their previous left tackle Nate Solder walk; the veteran made $10 million this year for the Giants, going up to $17 million next year. He’s now the NFL’s highest paid offensive lineman. In contrast, the Patriots are paying a grand total of $1.9M for Brown this year. That changes after this season, since he’s now a free agent, and there are no guarantees Brown will stay with the Patriots. He has a big spotlight in Atlanta to pump up his free agent value, and Belichick is great at getting the most out of inexpensive players.Then again, New England is a great spot for a young lineman, with a pretty decent quarterback famous for getting rid of the ball quickly, a legendary position coach (Dante Scarnecchia), and talented colleagues on the line. PFF ranked this rebuilt line as fourth best in the NFL. The Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers both have great pass rushes, but neither got a sack against Brady in these playoffs.Brown has improved steadily all season, and has been a stud in the playoffs https://www.49ersfanshop.com/Robbie-Gould-Jersey , holding both Melvin Ingram and Dee Ford to no sacks and one pressure each. He is PFF’s top-graded tackle in the playoffs this year.Even in the run game, which has always been his weakness, the Patriots have figured out how to make the most of his unique combination of size and mobility: in goal line packages. Zack Cox of New England Sports Network points out that:He had a star moment in crunch time in the AFC Championship game, luring Ford into lining up offsides, which wiped out a game ending interception. Some fans thought Brown was lined up illegally off the line himself, but photos show that he’s so huge (6’8”, 360 lbs.) that it just looked that way. He helmet broke the plane of the center’s hip, as required, but his back foot was two yards behind any of the other offensive linemen.That isn’t to say that the Niners made a bad trade. Brown was not a good fit for Kyle Shanahan’s outside zone running game, and only played ten games in 2017 before going on injured reserve. He was called for 18 penalties in 31 games on the Niners, versus only five this entire season, where he’s played 97.3% of the Patriots offensive snaps.Clearly he’s fitting in better with New England, but San Francisco’s OL also improved by subtraction when Brown left. I don’t think there’s any way that Matt Breida, Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson would have been racked up so many rushing yards in Shanahan’s scheme with Brown still on the team.If Tarvarius Moore develops into a solid cornerback, this may be one of those rare trades where both teams benefit. Add in the financial implications with Brown headed to free agency, and that could be further noteworthy for the 49ers. That said, I predict that when Bill Belichick retires Reuben Foster Jersey , New England will miss his work as a GM as much or more than his coaching.In any case, Trent Brown is looking forward to a Super Bowl bonus check and maybe a ring, plus a big second contract as a starting left tackle somewhere in the NFL next year. Life is good. The San Francisco 49ers had an emotional win, beating the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday for the first time since 2013. As great and important as the win was, there’s that elephant in the room we have to address. The win puts them out of the running for the first pick. At least, for now. The 49ers have dropped to fourth in draft positioning. The ranking for the top 10 is listed as the below per Tankathon: 1.Arizona Cardinals2. Oakland Raiders3. New York Jets4. San Francisco 49ers5. Jacksonville Jaguars6. Atlanta Falcons7. Detroit Lions8. New York Giants9. Tampa Bay Buccaneers10. Buffalo BillsPer ESPN’s Football Power Index there are some numbers crunched on both the chance the 49ers are to get the first pick and also a top five pick. The 49ers now have a long shot at getting that first round pick with a two percent chance, per the index. However, they have an 84 percent chance of keeping that top-five pick. Meanwhile, the Cardinals have an 84 percent chance of holding onto that first pick. The Jets and Jaguars both share the same record (4-10) with the 49ers. If the season were to end today, the Jets would edge out the 49ers in the strength of schedule tiebreaker. The Jets have a .502 SoS while the 49ers sit at .504. The Jaguars are at .551. If the Raiders would have managed to win instead of lose, they would drop from second to sixth while the 49ers would move up to third.The Jets have the Packers and Patriots left to play while the Jaguars have the Dolphins and Texans. The Jets can help the 49ers out by winning against the Packers, but that would be asking for a lot from that team. The Cardinals have the Los Angeles Rams and the Seattle Seahawks. Asking them to win both of those games is like asking an infant to write proofs to calculus. And the Raiders? They have a believable win with the Denver Broncos, but then have to go to Arrowhead Stadium to play the Kansas City Chiefs. Given the above, rooting for a Jets win is the best course of action. How do you see this shaping up?