{"id":286453,"date":"2026-06-06T08:47:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T12:47:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=286453"},"modified":"2026-06-06T08:55:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T12:55:12","slug":"a-j-brown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2026\/06\/06\/a-j-brown\/","title":{"rendered":"Is A.J. Brown the Missing Piece to the Patriots\u2019 Championship Puzzle?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now that A.J. Brown is with the New England Patriots, will the team win a Super Bowl within the next few years? The Philadelphia Eagles, of course, recently traded the wideout<\/a> to New England for a 2028 first-round pick and a 2027 fifth-rounder. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

An A.J. Brown-to-New England deal had been rumored for months. Therefore, no one was shocked that it actually happened.<\/p>\n

Brown helped quarterback Jalen Hurts<\/a> and the Eagles win a Super Bowl two seasons ago. But it remains to be seen whether he can do the same for his new team.<\/span><\/p>\n

Is A.J. Brown the Missing Piece to the Patriots\u2019 Championship Puzzle?\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Looking Back at His Career<\/h3>\n

A.J. Brown played college football at Ole Miss. He was named First Team All-SEC during his four-year career with the Rebels. In his final season, he caught 85 passes for 1,320 yards and six touchdowns.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Tennessee Titans later drafted<\/a> Brown in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft. As a rookie, he helped the Titans reach the AFC Championship Game, where they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Brown finished his rookie season with 52 receptions, 1,051 receiving yards (leading all NFL rookies), and eight receiving touchdowns. As a result, he <\/span>was named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team.<\/sup>\u00a0<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n

The following year, Brown caught 70 passes for 1,075 yards and 11 touchdowns, and was voted to his first Pro Bowl appearance. He also helped the Titans make the playoffs, as they lost to the Baltimore Ravens<\/a> in the Wild Card Round.<\/span><\/p>\n

Brown was traded to the Eagles in 2022. He recorded 88 receptions for 1,496 yards and 11 touchdowns during his first year in Philly. He helped the Eagles reach Super Bowl LVII, where they lost 38-35 to the Chiefs.<\/span><\/sup><\/p>\n

During the 2024 season, Brown and the Eagles got their revenge against the Chiefs. This time around, they defeated Kansas City 40-22 in Super Bowl LIX. Brown had three catches for 43 yards and a touchdown in the game.<\/p>\n

Last season, A.J. Brown and the Eagles lost to the <\/span>San Francisco 49ers<\/a> 23-19 in the Wild Card round. Brown had his worst year as a pro since 2021 as he caught 78 passes for 1,003 yards.<\/span><\/p>\n

Can A.J. Brown Get the Pats Over the Hump?<\/h3>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

The Patriots struggled mightily in 2023 and 2024, finishing with 4-13 records in both seasons. However, things got a lot<\/em> better last season. Under new head coach Mike Vrabel<\/a>, the team went 14-3 and reached the Super Bowl. Although they lost the game 29-13<\/a>, it was still a huge turnaround from the previous years.<\/p>\n

Patriots quarterback Drake Maye<\/a> morphed into a star last season. The former North Carolina Tar Heel passed for 4,394 yards and 31 touchdowns. He also finished as the runner-up for NFL MVP behind Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford.<\/p>\n

Stafford received 24 first-place votes while Maye got 23. Stafford finished with 366 points to Maye’s 361. <\/span>It was the closest MVP race since 2003, back when Peyton Manning and Steve McNair were co-winners.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

With A.J. Brown arriving in New England, Maye can be even better in 2026. Brown is known as one of the NFL\u2019s top deep threats. Plus, he\u2019s the perfect receiver for Maye, who had the league\u2019s fifth-highest deep-throw rate in 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n

Zachary Pereles of CBS Sports<\/a> wrote about the Maye-Brown duo:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not hard to envision Maye-to-Brown being one of the top big-play-producing combinations in the NFL if things go to plan. Maye is not only outstanding from the pocket but also when extending plays. Brown can thrive in this manner as a player who also had to get creative when Jalen Hurts <\/span>improvised.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Pats made it all the way to the Super Bowl last season, but failed to win it. Could A.J. Brown help Maye and Co. get over the hump and bring home a championship? Yes, it is very possible. Brown is still one of the NFL\u2019s best wide receivers. He’s a three-time All-Pro and a Super Bowl champion. He makes the Patriots a better team.<\/p>\n

Main Image: Eric Canha-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wide receiver A.J. Brown, who was recently traded from the Philadelphia Eagles to the New England Patriots, could help his new team win a Super Bowl. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4890,"featured_media":286458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,5,6431],"tags":[5008,10076,7394],"class_list":["post-286453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-news","category-patriots","category-nfl-teams","tag-a-j-brown","tag-drake-maye","tag-new-england-patriots-news"],"modified_by":"Mike Roberts","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4890"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286453"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":286479,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286453\/revisions\/286479"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}