The Patriots called about A.J. Brown for 2 years and were 'laughed at.' Now, the ex-Eagles WR is practicing with them
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — When there’s a chance a Pro Bowl-caliber player will become available, it’s Eliot Wolf’s job to call that player’s boss and ask. “I call and I get laughed at,” the Patriots ’ top personnel man reflected from his office Tuesday. “That’s just a normal part of a
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — When there’s a chance a Pro Bowl-caliber player will become available, it’s Eliot Wolf’s job to call that player’s boss and ask.
“I call and I get laughed at,” the Patriots ’ top personnel man reflected from his office Tuesday. “That’s just a normal part of a process.”
So Wolf began calling the Philadelphia Eagles about A.J. Brown in 2024 “just to see,” he told Yahoo Sports. For two years, the response was incredulous.
Around the NFL scouting combine this February, Eagles general manager Howie Roseman’s tone changed.
Three months later, timed not coincidentally with a league accounting deadline that aided the Eagles’ dead-cap allocation, on Monday the Patriots sent their 2028 first-round pick and a 2027 fifth to the Eagles in exchange for the three-time Pro Bowl receiver Mike Vrabel had helped draft and then coach in Tennessee . Now Vrabel is his head coach again in New England .
Brown’s exact fit into Josh McDaniels’ offensive scheme will be a work in progress. But Brown already said on his first day at Patriots HQ that his new coordinator had “given me a whole bunch of ideas,” while Brown’s new coaches in tandem touted their latest pupil’s quick learning and eagerness to understand principles.
On Tuesday, the marriage seemed off to a natural start. The same day that Brown took and completed his physical, he joined the Patriots’ OTA practice. Running individual drills, participating in sprints and working into one first-team snap per series, it did not take long for the Patriots to get excited about their latest weapon.
So after a tumultuous final year in Philadelphia that involved disagreements with Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts , consider Brown ready to face forward. He addressed growing apart from Hurts, but feeling love toward him, in a Monday night interview with Maria Taylor . By Tuesday in Foxborough, he kept his focus on the Patriots: where his new runner-up MVP quarterback impressed.
