The Patriots' signing of free-agent cornerback Brandon Browner, formerly of the Seahawks, has raised expectations for the New England secondary in 2014. In fact, it was part of the consideration for ESPN.com Insider KC Joyner to recently write a piece

that the Patriots could surpass the Seahawks when it comes to the NFL's best secondary.

With this as a springboard, Browner's signing in New England was brought up during Tuesday's weekly NFL Nation "Spreecast" with Seahawks reporter Terry Blount (around the 20-minute mark). The hour-long "Spreecast", which can be recapped here, included Patriots reporter Mike Reiss and host/Bengals reporter Coley Harvey.

Blount's perspective, from the Seattle side, is passed along:

"He's still an excellent player. He's a very good press coverage cornerback. However, if he was still in Seattle, he would not be starting over Byron Maxwell. Not even close. There was a point early last season, before Brandon got injured and before the suspension and all that stuff, where he actually got benched in a game because he was not playing very well.

"Now, I don't want people to think I'm down on Brandon Browner. I'm not. I think he's still a very good player. He's so big (6-foot-4, 221 pounds) and so physical, that he's basically like a strong safety playing cornerback. But he wouldn't be the starter here if he were here, and I don't know that he is quite as good as he was two years ago. Maybe he will be, especially with [Darrelle] Revis back there helping him too; that is a very good secondary now in New England. So I think he can help them without question, but I think it's wrong for people to think Seattle made a mistake for letting him go, because he was not going to start here had he stayed."