The New England Patriots trading first- and fourth-round draft picks to the Philadelphia Eagles for wide receiver A.J. Brown was a gamble.
On the one hand, he was a proven No. 1 wide receiver capable of adding a new level of playmaking ability to what was one of the best offenses in football in 2025. On the other hand, he was heading into his age-29 season off of his least productive season in four years.
Eight weeks into the season, the gamble has not paid off. Brown has appeared in just three games
so far, catching nine passes for 101 yards. A bigger concern than his output, however, is his injury situation. Not only did he spend four games on injured reserve with a high ankle sprain, he also is currently dealing with a knee injury that has forced him to miss four straight practices and last Sunday’s win in Miami.
While that knee injury has not prompted another move to IR, Brown’s short-term availability has been impacted. And beyond that, there are questions about his long-term outlook as well as addressed by ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Thursday morning.
“Let’s go back to the offseason, when Philadelphia was shopping A.J. Brown and they were talking to teams,” Schefter said. “One of the reasons that I believe there wasn’t more interest was there were some teams that had some questions about his knee. In fact, when they were advanced discussions for a trade with the Los Angeles Rams that was at one point close to being completed … I think the Rams had some concerns about his knee. The concerns that other teams have had have now manifested themselves in New England this season.
“It flared up. … The knee held him out last week, and the knee is threatening to hold him out this week. It’s a knee that I think raises some concerns as to how long he’s going to keep playing here in New England, and producing at a high level.”
Worries about Brown’s knee are nothing new. Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf himself spoke about them earlier this year.
“It’s a factor, but we examined him,” Wolf said back in June. “He’s got a knee that has some wear and tear that we were aware of. Our training staff and medical staff signed off on it.”
Regardless of his current availability issues, the Patriots moving on from Brown in the near future is not expected. His contract structure alone would likely prevent such a move from happening: if released next offseason, for example, New England would take on a dead cap charge of almost $26 million.
For the time being, though, Brown remains with the Patriots and part of their 53-man roster. How quickly he can return to the field will be seen, though; one line of thinking is that he might be kept out through the team’s trip to Germany next week and into the Week 11 bye to get fully ready for the stretch run.
Whether he will be, only time will tell.
