Patriots wide receiver A.J. Brown is ready to get to work.
New England head coach Mike Vrabel confirmed today that Brown passed his physical and will participate in the Patriots’ voluntary practice today.
As everyone learned when the Raiders-Ravens Maxx Crosby trade fell through, trades in the NFL aren’t official until the traded player passes his physical. But Brown is now good to go.
Vrabel, who previously coached Brown in Tennessee, said he’s excited about Brown showing what he can do.
“He loves football. He has a physical skill set. I think he has great body control and can be strong at the catch point,” Vrabel said. “He’s been a productive, consistent player.”
The Patriots will get their first look at that skill set on the practice field today.
Wide receiver A.J. Brown’s final season with the Eagles featured a lot of talk about his dissatisfaction with the team’s offense and the nature of his relationship with quarterback Jalen Hurts.
Brown weighed in on the latter topic during an interview with Maria Taylor after Monday’s long-awaited trade to the Patriots. Brown said he doesn’t understand why there was so much attention paid to his relationship with Hurts, but acknowledged that the two men are “not as close as we once were” by the end of their final season together.
The receiver insisted “that didn’t stop anything” the team was trying to do on the field and said there was no particular incident that led to the change.
“Nothing happened, people just grow apart,” Brown said. “Nothing happened between me and him, or our families, wives, anything. Nothing like that ever happened. Life happens and you just look up sometimes and you just you find yourself drifting away and that’s fine. And I think both parties accepted that.”
Brown said he wants Hurts to do well and “accomplish everything his heart desires,” but he’ll no longer have a hand in helping Hurts or the Eagles reach any of their goals.
New Patriots wide receiver A.J. Brown couldn’t be happier to reunite with head coach Mike Vrabel.
Brown said in an interview with Maria Taylor that it wasn’t always easy to play for Vrabel when the two were in Tennessee together during Brown’s first three NFL seasons. But Brown came to appreciate the reasons that Vrabel is such a tough coach.
“When I first got to Tennessee he was extremely tough on me, and I didn’t really understand what he was trying to do,” Brown said. “Obviously he was trying to push me to become the player I am today, but he was just so tough. I remember a conversation, I was talking to him, like, ‘You don’t have to humble me. I came from humble beginnings.’ I just never understood, he stayed on me all the time.”
Brown said that as he spent more time with Vrabel, he began to learn that Vrabel was hard on him because Vrabel genuinely wanted to get the best out of him.
“He was holding me accountable, and we grew close over the years,” Brown said.
Asked what Vrabel said to him yesterday when the trade became official, Brown said it was something he heard from Vrabel plenty of times in Tennessee.
“Get open and catch the ball,” Brown said. “That’s what he always says.”
After the Eagles shipped receiver A.J. Brown to the Patriots on Monday for a 2028 first-round pick and a 2027 fifth-round pick, Philadelphia G.M. Howie Roseman met with a group of reporters to discuss the move.
As Roseman see it, a first-round pick is a first-round pick, whether that pick is made in 2026, 2027, or 2028.
“For us to take a 2026 pick, and that’s a late first-round pick, and obviously also have to deal with the cap consequences that come with making a trade prior to June 1, it made some sense for us to look at future picks,” Roseman said, via Zach Berman of The Athletic. “We’ve always been in the mindset a pick is a pick — a first-round pick is a first-round pick. Doesn’t matter. Teams are still going to be playing football in 2028.”
Right, but many teams generally regard a future first-round pick as a current second-round pick. That said, if the Patriots struggle in 2027, the pick in 2028 will be much higher than the 31st overall pick the Eagles would have gotten in 2026.
Then there’s the difference between overall classes. At this point, no one truly knows how “good” the 2028 class will be, relative to 2027.
It’s safe to say the Eagles would have preferred a first-round pick in 2027.
Regardless, it was a win to get any first-round pick for a player who no longer wanted to be with the Eagles, and whom the Eagles no longer wanted to keep. After months of speculation that the shelf life on the relationship had expired, the Eagles finally moved on.
“I think from our perspective, getting a first-round pick for our team, having two first-round picks in ‘28 is a huge, huge part of this move,” Roseman said. “I think that when you look at that and obviously the options of what you’re able to do with having multiple first-round picks, it’s a huge game-changer, and feel very, very confident that those picks are the most valuable things that you can add as you’re building your team. I know there’s a lot of attention on the 2027 draft, but at the same time, looking at the ‘28 draft, I feel confident that that’s going to be a good draft as well, and that we’ll be in position to really improve our football team.”
It’s a glass-half-full assessment of the situation. Ultimately, the Eagles got only four seasons from Brown in exchange for the first-round pick they sacrificed in 2022. And he helped them win a Super Bowl.
Still, if they’d used that selection, they could have gotten a player who could be entering his prime in 2026. Instead, after four years with Brown, they’ll get a first-round pick six years after the first-round pick they gave up to get Brown in the first place.
Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez is staying away from the team’s organized team activities as he seeks a contract extension.
Teammate Marcus Jones explained Gonzalez’s stance during Drake Maye’s MayeDay Softball Classic. (Gonzalez participated in the event but apparently didn’t speak to the media.)
“It’s a day-by-day thing. I’ve been in the situation of learning about how contract negotiations stuff goes about,” Jones said, via Karen Guregian of masslive.com. “At the end of the day, they want what’s best for them, and he wants what’s best for him as well.”
The Patriots exercised the fifth-year option on Gonzalez’s contract, which would pay him $18.1 million for the 2027 season. He is scheduled to make $2.259 million in base salary this season.
Rams cornerback Trent McDuffie is at the top of the market at the position with an annual average of $31 million. Gonzalez and Seattle cornerback Devon Witherspoon, who also is seeking an extension, share the same agent.
Gonzalez, the 17th overall pick in 2023, made second-team All-Pro in 2024 and the Pro Bowl in 2025. He has totaled 145 tackles, two interceptions, 24 pass breakups and a sack in three seasons.
“He means a lot. When it comes down to it, we support him and also the organization,” Jones said. “At the end of the day, that’s their thing. We’re ready when it comes down to him. I know he’s always one of those guys where no matter where he’s at, he’s always working.”
