Last week, the New England Patriots experienced what life would be like without A.J. Brown this season.
It was far from clean.
Brown suffered a high-ankle sprain in the third quarter of New England’s season opener against the Seattle Seahawks on Sept. 9. Once Brown left the field, the Patriots’ offensive production regressed. Despite holding a 10-0 halftime lead, New England fell after Seattle scored 13 unanswered points
.Quarterback Drake Maye struggled to push the ball downfield in the contest. The
third-year signal-caller initially threw for 79 yards and one touchdown, completing 11 of his 15 attempts. Then, following Brown’s injury, Maye connected on 12 of his next 18 attempts for 99 yards and gave away three costly fourth-quarter interceptions.
Now, with the receiver landing on short-term injured reserve, he’s out for at least four games. And to add salt to the wound, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport expects Brown to miss about six weeks of the season, which would set him up to return on Nov. 1 against the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium.
How will the team try to fill that void until then?
Moving forward, Maye will have to operate without his No. 1 receiver and, outside of Mack Hollins, a trusted wideout like Stefon Diggs or even Kayshon Boutte. A collective effort from the offense as a whole is necessary to compensate for what will be lost.
“Any injury that you get at this point in the offseason, you kind of approach it with an all-hands-on-deck approach,” offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said on Saturday (via WEEI). “We’ve got a lot of different skill guys who can do a lot of different things.
“There isn’t one person on our roster who can replace anybody like A.J. Brown in the middle of a game or for a stretch of the season. We’ll band together, we’ll figure out what we can do well and try to get the guys in positions to play to their strengths.”
Still, it all starts with who lines up out wide.
Romeo Doubs
Free-agent addition Romeo Doubs had a quiet opening to his career in New England during Week 1, unable to record a single catch on his three targets.
Lining up on 2nd-and-14 at his own squad’s 22-yard line, Maye rolled out to his right with the game tied at 10 apiece early in the fourth quarter. The quarterback found Doubs wide open for a first down, but the receiver turned his head early and dropped the pass. One play later, Maye threw his second turnover, leading to the Seahawks’ go-ahead field goal.
“He dropped a pass. You know what I mean? Everybody drops a pass,” head coach Mike Vrabel said about Doubs on Monday. “Everybody misses a tackle. You talk to him the same way you always talk to him. Figure out a way to make a play to help us win, and he did a lot of great things during camp, just like everybody did. And so, I know he’s excited to get back out there, get to work and to find a way to help us win.”
In training camp, Doubs also started slowly and didn’t make much of an impact throughout early practices. It wasn’t until his role changed, working the sideline and receiving more 50/50 balls, that he began stacking positive days.
But even though Vrabel seems to remain confident in the 26-year-old, another question arises as to whether he can expand his role. In the absence of Brown, Doubs may be asked to work the middle of the field, short and at the intermediate level, which he did a lot of at the start of camp.
Nonetheless, while Doubs has struggled with drops in the past, one performance doesn’t change the fact that he can be a reliable jump-ball target for Maye and excel in the red zone. In his second season with Green Bay in 2022, Doubs caught seven red zone touchdowns, ranking fourth in the NFL.
Part of the offense’s success for the time being falls on Doubs finding his footing and potentially adjusting to a larger workload.
Kyle Williams
The same goes for second-year receiver Kyle Williams, who could help replicate Brown’s ability as a deep-ball threat if his chemistry with Maye improves.
Although the pair connected on two deep-shot scores in 2025, their chemistry was largely marked by miscommunication. Moving forward, Williams has an opportunity to establish himself and earn a consistent role on the offense.
Despite a quiet season opener, Williams had a standout preseason with that responsibility, catching four passes for 129 yards and three touchdowns.
“Sure. I mean, we want to get Kyle involved,” Vrabel said on Monday when asked if Williams’ role may expand. “I’m hopeful that Kyle can find a role for us and find a way to help us, using his speed and catch-and-run opportunities like we saw last year at times, or some shot-type plays.
The Seahawks’ defense emphasized downfield coverage last week, focusing on preventing Maye’s deep opportunities, which restricted New England to the short passing game. Maye executed that approach efficiently until he “lost patience” and began forcing unnecessary deep throws.
But if the Patriots focus on the short passing game, they still need a downfield threat capable of turning any play into a touchdown. Establishing the short game opens that possibility for a deep play, as Seattle’s defense adjusts to New England’s underneath strategy.
TreVeyon Henderson
An effective run game also draws defenders closer to the line of scrimmage to allow those attempts, and with TreVeyon Henderson close to returning, he’ll be a key part of that.
Henderson sustained an ankle injury during a practice on Aug. 24 and was sidelined through the season opener. Since then, however, Henderson has been a full participant in practices this week and said Thursday that he’s “ready to go.”
Similar to Williams, Henderson is another explosive playmaker. During his rookie season in 2025, the running back forced 30 missed tackles and totaled four touchdown runs of over 50 scrimmage yards.
It’s unknown whether he’ll be more effective running between the tackles or prove reliable at picking up blitzers and earning more third-down snaps. Regardless, Henderson always has a chance to take any touch to the house.
