In what became a shockingly successful 2025 season for the Patriots, the team now faces a heap of pressure on Mike Vrabel to lead them to another impressive year after returning to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2018.
There are the expected names who will be a focus of the season, most notably quarterback Drake Maye, who was the MVP runner-up last year, and a number of fringe players who need to have a breakout year to either remain in New England or get on the radar of another team ahead of the 2027 offseason.
But one player that might be under an unforeseen amount of pressure is A.J. Brown, and probably not for the reasons most would predict.
Clearly, there is a need for the receiver to be the clear-cut WR1 the Patriots believe he can be, especially after trading a future first-round pick to get him on the roster. He's proved he is one of the best pass catchers in the league throughout his career, and now he will need to show he can do that for the Patriots as the central focus of the offense.
That's a lot of pressure as it is, but Chad Graff of The Athletic believes there will be even more weight on Brown's shoulders stemming from how things ended with the Eagles, and he's probably not wrong.
A.J. Brown is set to face the most pressure he's ever had in his NFL career at the start of his Patriots tenure
Since things didn't end happily between Brown and the Eagles, many analysts and even some Patriots fans are skeptical about how he will be for the team in 2026 and beyond.
There are questions about whether his lingering knee issues will become a problem for his output, or if his attitude that appeared to be the basis for Philadelphia agreeing to trade him will be an issue on and off the field sooner rather than later.
Because of that, Graff believes that adds even more for Brown to prove in his first season in New England, and if he isn't able to play up to the superstar standard he has set in his career, there's a good chance that a lot will be said about how he forced his way off the recent Super Bowl-winning team.
"Brown essentially forced his way out of Philadelphia to head to his preferred team with his preferred coach and an ascending MVP candidate at quarterback. He’s joining a team that was in the Super Bowl last season. If this doesn’t go well, a lot of fingers could be left pointing at Brown.
He has a lot on the line to prove that he still has plenty left in the tank and can help a Patriots passing attack that was arguably already the NFL’s best a year ago."
From what we've seen so far, even in a limited capacity, there are no signs that Brown has slowed down or lacks motivation since joining his favorite childhood team. In fact, he seems more determined to prove everyone wrong than he has in a long time, and that is something to be excited about.
He has already begun establishing a great rapport with Drake Maye, as we saw during minicamp earlier this offseason, and the new duo has also spent time training together ahead of training camp, which will be a major factor in how well training camp begins this week.
Watching that flourish for the rest of the offseason and into training camp will set the standard for what's to come once Week 1 is here, and there's a good chance we haven't seen the best from Maye just yet, and Brown can be the reason he elevates to a new level.
He certainly has a lot to prove, and the good thing is, he appears more than equipped to handle it and become the next superstar in New England.
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