A.J. Brown’s career with the New England Patriots is off to an underwhelming start. Despite him missing four weeks due to a high ankle sprain, averaging only three catches per game, and being a no-show at practice on Thursday, however, his coaches are not willing to sound the alarm.
Quite the opposite is the case. The Patriots remain high on the 29-year-old.
“It’s been a small sample size for A.J,” said wide receivers coach Todd Downing on Thursday. “I think there’s been a lot made about a couple of
weeks. My hope, and his hope, and everybody’s hope is that he gets a little bit of traction. I’m not worried about where A.J. is at at all. Certainly haven’t had the results that we had hoped for, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t right around the corner.”
Brown joined the Patriots via trade with the Eagles this offseason, and showed some promise early in his tenure with the team. However, his regular season debut in Seattle was cut short when he sprained his ankle in the early third quarter.
New England subsequently sent him to injured reserve, with his highly-anticipated return to the field happening in Week 7 against the Jets. That game, however, was a struggle. There was some improvement four days later against the Bears, but the numbers still have not looked the part.
Besides catching just six passes on 14 targets for 53 combined yards in his two games back, Brown’s knee injury has now reportedly also “flared up.” After practicing in a limited capacity on Wednesday, he did not take part in Thursday’s session.
This puts his outlook for Sunday’s game against the Dolphins in question. Long-term, however, the Patriots remain confident in his potential and ability to contribute.
“He’s played eight quarters in almost two months and had four practices. I’m certainly in the mode of, ‘This is a process of building into our best football,’” offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said. “We’ve seen that with pretty much every player that’s come here starting last year and then obviously we’ve seen it this year with different guys.
“I think there are things that we can work and do better, and certainly his health is going to be a big part of that. When they tell us we can do A, B and C, we’ll do A, B and C. And if there’s some element of a thing that we will need to wait on, then we’ll do it. Love his attitude and his approach. He’s been here working his tail off to put himself in a great position to help our team, and I know he’s going to do that.”
