Patriots to sign CB Brown

The effort to fill up the cornerback depth chart continued for the Patriots on Thursday, as the team agreed to a deal with free agent Tarell Brown. ESPN’s Dianna Marie Russini was the first to report the news.

At 5-foot-11, 190 pounds, Brown has 11 career interceptions and 59 passes defended in 114 games.

After calling the 49ers’ contract offer last year a “slap in the face”, per Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, Brown was a disappointment in his lone campaign with the Raiders.

Brown visited the organization twice this offseason, according to ESPN, so there has been some relatively long-standing mutual interest between the two sides. He played for San Francisco from 2007-13 and for Oakland last season. Darrelle Revis, Brandon Browner, Kyle Arrington and Alfonzo Dennard are all gone from last year’s group, which leaves Logan Ryan and Malcolm Butler to compete with newcomers Bradley Fletcher, Robert McClain and Brown for playing time in the secondary this season.

In addition, he’s not getting any younger, and there are questions about how good he’ll be in 2015 after he suffered a foot injury that necessitated surgery past year.