With a new number and some old emotions, A.J. Brown is finally a Patriot

FOXBORO, Mass. — It’s a great and oft-told story: Ever since he was a kid, A.J. Brown dreamed of one day playing for the New England Patriots. One can imagine, then, how excited he was on Monday when his agent called to say the deal was official: New England had acquired the veteran receiver from the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for its first-round pick in the 2028 draft and a fifth-round pick in 2027.

But a phone call from his agent was not when the flurry of emotions came. For Brown, a 6-1, 226-pounder who turns 29 on June 30, that moment arrived when he took part in OTAs Tuesday morning at the Patriots’ practice facility behind Gillette Stadium.

“Walking up the hill, with the uniform on, I was like, man, this is real,” said Brown, who will wear No. 1 with the Patriots. “I caught myself at one point in practice — I wasn’t paying attention, because I was, like, ‘A.J.!’ You know?”

Considering the months of speculation that led up to this deal, the whole football world knows Brown now plays for the Patriots. The whole football world understands the stakes, too: The Patriots, despite their surprising 14-3 record last year and a trip to the Super Bowl, recognized that while they have a top quarterback in Drake Maye, they needed to improve their receiving corps for 2026. Draftniks will argue that dealing a first-round pick was too high a price for a 29-year-old receiver, but the Patriots, in making the deal, have all but announced they are all in on returning to the Super Bowl.

As coach Mike Vrabel put it, “We have to win. That’s our job, to win. It’s a job and responsibility and the expectation in the National Football League. It’s not to go 4-13 two years in a row.”

Which is what the Patriots did in back-to-back seasons before 2025.

While it’s widely expected that Brown will be Maye’s primary target — even with New England signing free agent Romeo Doubs in March — the Patriots are being careful in what they say about who catches what, and when.

“I think the opportunities that everybody gets are going to be earned,” was Vrabel’s carefully phrased assessment of the situation. “I think there’s a spot for everybody. I think that guys give us reasons to give them opportunities. I can’t predict the future.”

A look at the past is helpful, however. Brown has racked up 1,000-plus receiving yards in six of his seven NFL seasons.

Still, even Brown is playing it cool on expectations.

“I’m just going to work hard, let the chips fall where they may,” Brown said. “Go out there and make plays and help my teammates. That’s all.”

So unwilling was Brown to bask in the New England sun on Tuesday that he declined an offer to lead his new team in stretching before the workout began.

“First of all, you have to learn your guys,” Brown said. “You just can’t come in and demand it. Like today, they wanted me to get out there in front of ’em. I’m … no. You gotta earn it … and I want to earn it. I want to earn those guys’ respect.”

Brown already has earned the respect of Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who had never met the team’s newest receiver until Tuesday morning.

“Big, physical, aggressive, explosive, really good hands,” McDaniels said. “He’s just a competitive guy. And you watch him play, and there’s a force to the way he plays the game. Looking forward to getting used to the things that he can do that I don’t know about, which I’m sure there are many of those.”

McDaniels, asked to compare Brown to other pass catchers he’s worked with in New England, brought up receiver Randy Moss and tight end Rob Gronkowski.

“Randy was tall, certainly, and fast, and all the rest of it,” McDaniels said. “I’m not sure I’ve been around one that looked just like (Brown). Maybe the closest thing I’ve seen is Gronk. This is a big guy, does a lot of things well, and (I’m) looking forward to seeing how we can acclimate him and fit him into our process.”

As a longtime follower of the Patriots, Brown is familiar with McDaniels. He’s familiar with Moss. He’s familiar with Gronkowski. Mostly, he’s familiar with Patriots legend Tom Brady, and to a degree, Brown was hoping to be drafted by the Patriots in the first round of the 2019 draft to create a Brady-to-Brown quarterback-receiver tandem.

Instead, the Patriots went with receiver N’Keal Harry with the 32nd and last pick in the first round. The Mike Vrabel-coached Tennessee Titans took Brown in the second round, No. 51 overall.

“That was a tough night,” Brown said. “I was looking forward to being picked in the first round. I was projected to be a first-round pick, but obviously, projections can go another way. I went back to my room, and I went into a closet and just tried to gather myself. I was disappointed. It was not where I wanted to be. Obviously, I wanted to play with Tom.”

Asked later if there were any Patriots players he modeled his game after, built a relationship with or received advice from, Brown said, “Other than the obvious, Tom, but nobody. Nobody.” He then dropped Moss into his answer. He also said he opted not to wear No. 11, the number he wore for the Titans and Eagles, because he has too much respect for former Pats receiver Julian Edelman, who wore No. 11 during his New England years.

Brown played four seasons for the Titans under Vrabel, even though he wasn’t impressed with his new coach at first.

“My first impression? I did not like him,” Brown said. “But what I’ve grown into, he’s a great guy.”

Vrabel, seen as the driving force behind the Patriots making this much-debated trade, is clearly positioning himself as president of the A.J. Brown Fan Club: New England chapter.

“I think he loves football,” Vrabel said. “I think he has a physical skill set. He’s got great body control. He’s strong at the catch point. But I also think he’s grown as a player and as a receiver, just the nuances of releases versus press, playing versus bracketed coverages or zone coverages. He plays physical with the football and has been a productive and consistent player.”

During their time together in Tennessee, did Brown let Vrabel know about his dream of playing for the Patriots?

“I think I knew that,” Vrabel said. “I think he showed me pictures when he was a little kid wearing my jersey and stuff like that.”

That was a joke by the coach.

Then Vrabel got serious.

“When we drafted him, he was like, ‘I wish the Patriots drafted me,’” Vrabel said. “And I said, ‘That didn’t happen. The Titans drafted you.’ I think there’s the success that (the Patriots) had in those years when a lot of our players were growing up, it would be easy to root for a lot of players that played for this team in the early 2000s.”

Now it’s the 2020s, and Vrabel and Brown have been reunited in New England.