The Patriots highly anticipated trade with the Eagles to acquire WR A.J. Brown finally went down on Monday, with New England sending a 2028 first-round pick and a 2027 fifth-rounder to Philly for the star receiver.
Along with reuniting the soon-to-be 29-year-old with head coach Mike Vrabel, adding a bona fide No. 1 receiver to the Patriots offense is great for a few reasons. First, New England establishes a proper pecking order in its passing game. Last season, Stefon Diggs was the coverage-dictating receiver. The Pats opted to release Diggs after just one season, creating a void that Brown now fills. With Brown in the mix, free-agent addition Romeo Doubs slots in as a high-end No. 2 receiver while Mack Hollins, Kayshon Boutte, DeMario Douglas, and Kyle Williams compete for snaps in three-receiver sets.
On paper, adding Brown and Doubs while only subtracting Diggs so far makes wide receiver a strength of the Patriots roster. New England also bolstered its offensive line by drafting first-round tackle Caleb Lomu and signing free-agent G Alijah Vera-Tucker, added a developmental tight end in third-rounder Eli Raridon to pair with vet Hunter Henry, and still has running back duo Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson – a substantial improvement from the offense QB Drake Maye stepped into as a rookie just two years ago.
All these acquisitions are investments in the Patriots most important asset: Maye. The third-year quarterback made a major leap in his second season under offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, finishing as the runner-up for MVP while leading the Patriots to Super Bowl LX. By continuing to stack talent around Maye, New England will hopefully avoid its young superstar QB backsliding as defenses continue to devise ways to make life harder on the Maye-McDaniels pairing.
As we zoom in on Brown, the Patriots wideout has been highly productive as he ages from Vrabel's second-round pick in the 2019 draft to entering his eighth NFL season. Last season, Brown had 81 catches for 1,028 yards and seven touchdowns. He has gone for 1,000-plus yards in six of his seven seasons, while ranking sixth among wide receivers in both ESPN's receiver score metric and catch rate over expectation (+6.8%) in 2025. Simply put, Brown is still one of the league's best at winning his matchup against single coverage.
That said, Brown posted career lows in yards per route run (1.96) and average yards after the catch (3.3), while having his second-lowest career output in average target depth last season (12.2). Some of that was usage-related, as Brown set a career-high with 87.6% of his routes coming from outside the formation. In all, 47.7% of Brown's targets came on either hitches or go routes. Eagles QB Jalen Hurts isn't known for throwing into the middle of the field, so Brown became an isolation and go-ball specialist in his final years in Philadelphia.
One could argue that McDaniels will be more creative with his deployment by moving Brown around the formation and targeting him on under-center play-action routes over the middle, which were a featured part of his game in Tennessee. Last season, Brown only had 11 catches for 134 receiving yards off play-action while Philly only ran play-action on 14% of their drop-backs. In his final season with the Titans, Brown ranked ninth in the NFL with 403 receiving yards off play-action on 22 catches. By targeting him between the numbers, New England can create more catch-and-run opportunities for Brown to hunt explosive plays.
At this stage, Brown relies more on his size (6-1, 226) and play strength than speed. Still, he's savvy enough to win with body positioning, strength at the catch point, and nuance against zone coverage while still flashing suddenness on slants and double moves to beat man coverage.
Let's break down the tape on the Patriots new star receiver and how he'll fit into the offense.
Outside Receiver Routes
Starting with the area of his game most emphasized by Philly, Brown has typically lined up wide for the majority of his career, running 79.5% of his career routes as an outside receiver.
In 2025, Brown was mostly used as a backside receiver by the Eagles, where he saw plenty of press coverage. The Pats wideout faced press coverage on 26.4% of his routes and was in isolation, where he was the lone receiver to one side of the formation, on 20.7% of his routes. By lining him up on the backside, the Eagles created 1-on-1 opportunities for Brown to beat single coverage on a vertical route tree that featured mostly hitches, slants, comebacks, and verticals.
According to Pro Football Focus, Brown's 338 receiving yards against man coverage ranked tenth in the NFL last season. For comparison, Diggs was one spot behind him with 326 receiving yards vs. man coverage (11th in the NFL). Brown also ranked eighth among wideouts in yards per route run against man coverage (2.82). In theory, Brown gives the Patriots a legit man-coverage beater who will make teams pay when he sees single coverage on the outside.
For example, Brown's game is predicated on his ability to win the ball at the catch point. Above, Brown faces a soft press-man technique, where the corner mirrors his release off the line rather than jamming him. Brown uses a hesitation release and then hits the gas to stack the defender. By getting over the top, or stacking, the corner now needs to play the receivers' hands from out of phase. Brown creates a window and has the play strength to finish the catch through contact.
Surely, one can envision Maye dropping go balls in the bucket for Brown to make catches over his shoulder, which sets up the rest of his route tree. Brown has always been an effective slant winner by selling outside releases early in the route. In this clip, he shows that outside release off the line to get the corner to commit up field to match a vertical route, then snaps across the defender's face to turn him around on the slant.
By threatening defenders on slants, it unlocks Brown's ability to separate on double moves. For instance, Brown sees off-coverage here on the outside of this nub formation (two tight end set). Brown gets the defender to bite on the slant, then separates over the top on the vertical, once again using his play strength and contested catch ability to bring in the deep pass.
Those double moves also come in handy when he sees press coverage, giving him a way to separate against man coverage down the field. In this example, Brown sells the quick out to create separation up the sideline. Once the defender is in chase mode, Brown is quicker to the football, getting his eyes back to the quarterback to track the underthrown ball for a deep TD.
Brown was also an effective high-red zone option for the Eagles on verticals. Here, Philly runs a skinny post-flat play against backside coverage. With the safety rotating down to take the back in the flat, Brown is left in single coverage on the backside corner. He does well to lean into the defender without fouling at the top of the route and snaps off the post to separate for an easy score from just inside the 20-yard line.
Although the Eagles featured Brown on hitches, slants, and outside vertical routes, we'd expect the Patriots to get him going on deep in-breakers more often. Brown was only targeted 22 times on digs or crossers last season, 18.2% of his targets, but was productive on those throws (14 catches, 180 yards). In 2025, the Pats featured the "Spear" concept above quite a bit with Diggs on the backside in-breaker while the two post routes cleared out the coverage. Brown shows that he can win in those areas, so expect to see some of that.
As an outside receiver, Brown's route tree will likely be similar to New England's deployment of Kayshon Boutte last season as primarily an "X" receiver. The newest Pats wideout and his quarterback are a great pairing as go-ball specialists, with Brown drawing No. 1 corners away from inside the formation and possibly forcing defenses to play with safety help over the top.
During the Patriots playoff run to Super Bowl LX, defenses played in a two-high safety shell on 51 percent of Maye's drop-backs to take away Maye's highly efficient deep passes. If defenses were already doing that pre-Brown trade, it stands to reason that New England will continue to see an uptick in two-high safety coverages with Brown threatening on the outside, which should create lighter boxes and voids for the inside receivers.
Slot Receiver Routes
The expectation is that Brown will continue to run routes mostly on the outside, but the Patriots could also move him around the formation to hunt favorable matchups inside the formation.
Along with getting him advantageous matchups inside, using Brown as a "big" slot could mitigate any decline in his top-end speed to win on the outside. Last season, Brown ran a career-low 12.4% of his routes from the slot. He was used more in that capacity early in his Eagles career and in his final season with the Titans, setting a career-high in slot usage in 2021 with Tennessee (33.3%). Although it's not a large sample size, it could be mutually beneficial for the Patriots to increase Brown's slot workload.
For example, here, Brown runs as the No. 3 receiver on the three-receiver side in this empty formation. By putting him in the inside slot, Philly gets Brown matched on a linebacker running this option-style route. Brown finds the void between the two short zones and curls upfield to pick up extra yards after the catch – his speed is too much for linebackers between the numbers.
Here's another example where he's working against the nickel corner on this stick-nod-juke combination. With the inside slot running the stick-nod, it clears space for Brown's route underneath, where he breaks initially to the outside before cutting back inside (juke). Brown creates enough separation to catch the pass, and he makes the corner pay for going for the ball rather than the tackle, racking up some YAC.
Brown can also be effective working from inside the formation on vertical routes. This time, Philly motions DeVonta Smith across the formation to make him the outside receiver. They then run the sail concept with Smith's vertical route clearing out the sideline and a flat release putting the curl/flat defender in conflict. The short and deep routes create space for Brown, who then fills the void to make the catch downfield.
The Patriots acquired Brown to likely play on the outside as a traditional "X" receiver. As a pairing, Brown and Doubs make a ton of sense. Brown is a power-oriented receiver with high-end ball skills to create big plays on the outside, while Doubs is a chain-moving flanker who is a good separator and is a QB-friendly target between the numbers. Both receivers have the versatility to move around the formation but you can think of Brown as the big-play threat and Doubs as the possession receiver in the Pats offense.
Moving forward, it'll be interesting to see how the rest of the wide receiver room shakes out behind Brown and Doubs. From this perspective, there's overlap in their roles with Brown and Boutte to the point where they might be redundant on the roster. Boutte has played his way into being a top three receiver on a depth chart. But those snaps might not exist for him with Brown now in New England, which could be why Boutte has been in trade rumors this offseason.
Although Hollins also plays some on the outside, he is also a de facto tight end with alignment locations in tight to the formation as a point-of-attack run blocker. His versatility and willingness to do the dirty work make Hollins complementary enough to have a role alongside Brown and Doubs, while Douglas and Williams could be competing for a "speed" receiver role. With two in, one out this offseason, the Pats have seven wideouts vying for 5-6 spots: Brown, Doubs, Hollins, Boutte, Douglas, Williams, and second-year pro Efton Chism III.
Along with elevating the talent level in the room with the Brown acquisition, the Patriots have also created significant competition at wide receiver for a roster battle this summer.
DISCLAIMER: The views and thoughts expressed in this article are those of the writer and don't necessarily reflect those of the organization. Read Full Disclaimer
