NFL trade deadline: Badly timed tweet kicks off speculation about Patriots offensive tackle Trent Brown

With the NFL trade deadline less than two hours away, the rumor mill is working overtime. Most of those rumors originate behind the curtain, but sometimes they can be created out in the open — even without those kicking them off even knowing it.

That is exactly what happened to New England Patriots offensive tackle Trent Brown, who sent an interestingly worded Tweet on Tuesday afternoon:

Brown tweeting “next chapter” while the trade winds are blowing all across the league was obviously curious, and led to some speculation that he himself might have been involved in a trade. Such a move would have been a surprising one, to say the least.

The Patriots offensive line has struggled in back-to-back games, with Brown not meeting expectations in a Week 7 loss to the Chicago Bears. However, the starting left tackle was neither mentioned in any trade rumors heading into Nov. 1 nor expected to be on the trading block to begin with — making his tweet such an eye-catching one.

Eight minutes later, however, the veteran quickly issued a correction.

Based on his follow-up tweet that recognizes the “bad timing” of the first one, Brown will not be moved ahead of the 4 p.m. ET trade deadline.

That does not mean the Patriots will not still be active before the trading window comes to a close. Teams have reportedly expressed interest in several of their players, including fellow offensive tackle Isaiah Wynn. So far, however, nothing has materialized.