New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel addressed the A.J. Brown trade rumors again.
New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel addressed the A.J. Brown trade rumors again.
This time, it was from the NFL's annual meeting in Phoenix.
The Philadelphia Eagles could trade Brown this offseason. If a trade goes down, it will happen after June 1 because Brown's dead-money hit would be lowered from $40 million to $20 million.
"We've talked about this since last January. We're going to try to do everything we can to strengthen our roster through the draft, through free agency, multiple ways of player acquisition," Vrabel said. "So anything that we can continue to do to strengthen the roster, we're going to try to do."
Brown had 78 catches for 1,003 yards and seven touchdowns in the 2025 regular season. He and QB Jalen Hurts weren't on the same page at all.
During an episode of the "Dudes on Dudes" podcast with former Patriots stars Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman, Brown said he used to hate Vrabel, who led New England to the Super Bowl last season against the Seattle Seahawks.
However, time has healed those wounds.
"Vrabe is the type of coach that he's going to call on you in the meetings," Brown said. "He wants to make sure you're staying engaged and he's going to go over the keys to victory of the week. You better know them by the back of your hand. I used to write in my notebook because at the time, I really didn't like Vrabes. I didn't like him, and I admit that he knows that. So, I used to write, 'I hate Vrabes, I hate Vrabes, I hate Vrabes.' I was doing that to pretend like I was taking notes to look like I was engaged.
"But because he was so hard on me when I was a rookie and I really didn't understand it. So, at the time I told Vrabes like, 'Hey, like I'm humble already. You don't got to humble me.' But I really didn't understand what he was trying to, you know, push me to be."
Brown has 8,029 receiving yards and 56 touchdowns in the NFL with the Tennessee Titans and Eagles. It will be fascinating to see where he's playing next season. Brown has been heavily linked to the Los Angeles Rams and Patriots.
New England parted ways with Stefon Diggs and signed Romeo Doubs this offseason.
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