The Patriots traded for receiver A.J. Brown, who is now unquestionably their No. 1 weapon at the position.
But could they still bring back another veteran wideout?
Mike Vrabel did not outright dismiss the possibility of re-signing free agent Stefon Diggs when asked if it’s under consideration during his Wednesday press conference. But he did not seem particularly interested in the possibility either.
“I think we [are] probably at the number that we would need right now,” Vrabel said. “I wouldn’t say anything is off the table. We would want to add anybody that could help us. I’m not going to give a percentage on it, but I think we’re happy with where we’re at right now with the numbers and the people in the receivers’ room.
“I appreciate Stefon as a person and as a player and what he did for us last year — I’ll value that. Helped us win football games. Helped us get to where we got. But right now, I don’t think that’s something that I think we’re exploring. But I would never say no.”
Diggs is arguably the best receiver available in the current market. Despite coming off a torn ACL, he caught 85 passes for 1,013 yards with four touchdowns in 17 games last season. He also had 14 receptions for 110 yards with one TD in four postseason games.
It’s been more than two months since the story of the offseason landed out of the blue, courtesy of photos from the New York Post and (more importantly) clear and strong denials from the people involved.
Although the drip-drip of worthwhile developments has ended (that hasn’t stopped some from using anything/everything they can to harvest clicks and video views), there’s one unresolved issue that apparently will remain that way, into the summer.
Via Oli Coleman of the New York Post, The Athletic executive editor Steven Ginsberg recently provided an internal update regarding its investigation into the reporting of Dianna Russini, given the evidence that emerged of her relationship with Patriots coach Mike Vrabel.
“It’s going to take a few more weeks,” Ginsberg reportedly said. “There’s just a lot to go through, and we obviously want to take our time and be careful doing that. We will update everybody when we get to the end of that. We’ve also said that if we find anything that needs to be corrected, we will correct it along the way.”
In her April 14 resignation letter, Russini repeated her strong denial of wrongdoing that blamed the media for engaging in “self-feeding speculation that is simply unmoored from the facts.” The Athletic continued its investigation after her departure.
It’s unclear why it has taken so long for The Athletic, which is owned by the New York Times, to finish its investigation. As Coleman notes, the delay is creating internal concerns.
For now, it appears that The Athletic intends to continue its investigation, to conclude it, and to share its outcome. Even if The Athletic doesn’t publish any final report, chances are that someone within the broader Times apparatus will get it, and leak it.
Even without publication of the report (or a leak of it), The Athletic may go back and “correct” past reporting.
It’s a delicate balance for The Athletic and the Times. Photos of Vrabel and Russini from March 2020, which emerged after her resignation, raise questions about the quality of the vetting process and/or the oversight of Russini. Basically, what did management know, what should it have known, when did it know it, and when should have been known? A full and transparent investigation could make the publications, which already look bad as to their initial statement on the matter, come off even worse.
Brushing it all under the rug won’t be acceptable, either. The issue highlights pre-existing tensions between the Times and The Athletic. Will the employees of The Athletic be held to the same standard as employees of the Times?
Hovering over everything The Athletic says or does is the possibility of litigation, if Russini continues to adhere to her denials and is willing to back them up by filing a defamation case against anyone who says otherwise.
Plenty of crazy theories end up on social media. Not many of them make it into the mainstream consciousness.
A crazy theory regarding the reason for the A.J. Brown trade out of Philly went mainstream on Tuesday, when Mike Garafolo of NFL Network made general reference to it, before explaining that the team disputes it.
Specifically, Eagles senior advisor to the general manager/chief security officer/gameday coaching operations exec Dom “Big Dom” DiSandro debunked it.
“Let me also hit the other elephant now,” Garafolo said. “This talk of what’s happening, and why the trade happened, A.J. Brown, Haason Reddick, and you’ve seen it probably on social media. I talked to Big Dom about this, OK? And Big Dom knows what’s happening in that entire building, and he was adamant that that is not true. There is no truth to that. Haason Reddick is no longer an Eagle, because Haason Reddick wanted a huge payday. And A.J. Brown is no longer an Eagle for reasons that have nothing to do with what’s circulating online. He could not have been more adamant. That story is complete and utter, bupkis.”
So what’s circulating online? We asked Garafolo, and he passed along the link to it. It attempts to explain the reasons for Brown’s eventual disenchantment with quarterback Jalen Hurts.
On Monday, coach Nick Sirianni was asked whether the relationship between Brown and Hurts “was ever a problem in managing the team and impacted on the field?”
Here’s Sirianni’s full response, from the transcript circulated by the team:
“Relationships are so, so important. I think sometimes that can get misconstrued that everyone has to be best friends and that’s just not the case. There’s a lot of guys on a football team. There’s a lot of different personalities. What has to be understood is that everybody has a common goal. What also has to be understood is that everybody has a common goal that they need each other to accomplish. It’s like, ‘Yeah, we all want to win. Yeah, we all want to be All Pro. Yeah, we all want . . . our second, third contract,’ but you also, in that, need others to help you accomplish those things. There’s no other sport, in my opinion, out there that’s more obvious than in football.
“Again, yeah, you strive to get to know each other. When we talk about coming together as a football team, how do you do that? Well, there’s no shortcut in the time that you spend with each other getting to know each other, what makes each other tick, why they do it, what they like to do, whatever it may be, you get that through shared hardships. Only part of that is like, ‘Hey, a little time —' But then part of it is you get that togetherness through shared hardships going through tough times together. Then the other part of that is you get that togetherness from trust that’s built from consistently doing what you’re supposed to do on a daily basis. ‘Man, I just trust that guy that he’s going to do the right things at all times.’
“Relationships, togetherness sometimes look in the sense, at times, of, ‘Man, Landon [Dickerson] was in Jordan [Mailata’s] wedding.’ Sometimes it looks like that. And then sometimes it’s just, ‘Hey, this shared mission of the team.’ I think it can look a lot of different ways, but it is so important that we all understand that we have a shared mission and that we need each other to get to where we want to go. We need each other. Not in this sport can we do it alone.
“If you want to do it alone, you’ve got to pick another sport. But I say to them, sometimes I feel bad because I love the sport of tennis, but I’m like, ‘Hey, this ain’t tennis and none of you are built to play tennis. A lot of you guys aren’t built-- [kicker] Jake Elliott was built to play tennis, but a lot of you guys weren’t built to play tennis, so you can’t switch, so you need each other to get to where you want to go.’”
The response wasn’t responsive to the question asked. It’s up to the reader to decide why the ensuing word salad didn’t focus on the specific inquiry that was posed to Sirianni.
Whatever the reason, something happened between Brown and Hurts. When Brown arrived four years ago, they were close. Working together as receiver and quarterback in a shared effort to win as many games as possible should make them closer, not distant.
Especially since they went to two Super Bowls and won one during their time together.
Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez wants a contract extension. That’s why he stayed away from the voluntary offseason program.
Gonzalez, though, is attending the mandatory minicamp this week.
“I hope we get something done,” Gonzalez said Tuesday, via Mike Reiss of ESPN. “I’ve said this multiple times: I’ve been drafted here; I want to be rewarded as a Patriot. I love this city. So of course I want to be here.”
Agent Reggie Johnson represents Gonzalez and Seahawks cornerback Devon Witherspoon, who is also eligible for a contract extension for the first time. Trent McDuffie recently signed a deal with the Rams averaging $31 million annually.
Gonzalez would not say whether he would play this season under his current contract, which will pay him a base salary of $2.259 million.
“We have a long time to the season. We’re still pretty early in the offseason,” Gonzalez said. “I’m focused on being here for the team, fulfill my role and what I’m here for this week, and focus on that.”
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.
A.J. Brown has not been a member of the Patriots for too long. But he’s getting more integrated into his new surroundings.
Head coach Mike Vrabel said on Tuesday that things have been going “good” for Brown since he arrived.
“I think the weekend probably served him well to be able to take a deep breath and get some rest,” Vrabel said in his press conference, via transcript from the team. “I am sure it has been a whirlwind for him, but he is excited about learning the system and eventually moving around and doing different things.
“I think it has been great just having him around and continuing to integrate himself into our football team.”
The Patriots are going through mandatory minicamp this week. The club will start training camp the week of July 24.
