Last Tuesday, Ben Brown was in Las Vegas enjoying relative anonymity as a member of the Raiders’ practice squad. Five days later, he was on the field for all 66 of the New England Patriots’ offensive snaps versus the Houston Texans.
In between those two dates was one of the quickest turnarounds in recent memory.
Early last week, the Patriots were looking to upgrade their center position in wake of their well-documented struggles with continuity along the offensive line. They identified a former undrafted free agent, who had started his career by spending time with four teams over a three-year period, as a player worth pursuing.