Patriots to put CB Brown on season-ending IR

Brown dressed for New England’s Week 3 win over the Jaguars but was the only player who did not see any action. The duo of Butler and Brown certainly wasn’t elite, but combined with the elite front seven the Patriots have, it was certainly competent.

The Patriots now head into tomorrow’s game against the Colts with Malcolm Butler, Logan Ryan, Justin Coleman and Rashaan Melvin as their four cornerbacks. Melvin was claimed off waivers this week from the Ravens and has only practiced twice.

Brown is the second Patriots veteran to hit injured reserve this week. With Nate Solder added to injured reserve this week, adding Fleming for depth makes sense. He is joined by linebackers Trent Cole (back) and Bjoern Werner (hamstring) and defensive tackle Billy Winn (eye) on that list, though that trio were full participants at Friday’s practice.

The Patriots’ issues at cornerback have continued. He also provided veteran leadership at a very young position on the team.

Brown visited the Patriots in May but didn’t sign until late July. Brown broke his foot last season, in Week 15, and appeared to reinjure it sometime after the Buffalo game. He’s now healthy and could be waived with an injury settlement and re-signed by the Patriots.

As for who might be possible targets in a trade, this is always a challenging question to answer because one has to know a team’s willingness to trade a certain player.