The New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles have been attached at the hip all offseason, to the point where fans of both teams are just waiting for news of an A.J. Brown trade to become official.
From a 10,000-foot view, Brown would help solve one of the Patriots’ most glaring issues. The team has had a fine start to the offseason, including swapping Stefon Diggs for an ascending young possession receiver in Romeo Doubs. Landing Brown in a trade with the Eagles would take the team to an entirely new level on paper.
Patriots fans are well aware of head coach Mike Vrabel’s history and affinity for Brown, who’s entering his age-29 season but remains one of the most dominant wideouts in the game. But is Brown the right fit for quarterback Drake Maye and Josh McDaniels to justify parting with premium draft capital? ESPN’s latest on the never-ending friction in Philly might make Patriots fans think otherwise.
The Patriots’ struggles against zone-heavy defenses during their 2025 playoff run were well documented ahead of Super Bowl LX, and per Eagles reporter Tim McManus and insider Jeremy Fowler, Brown doesn’t exactly project as a solution to that problem.
“Brown said he knew he had a chance to be prominently featured when facing a man-heavy team. But when defenders forced tight-window throws via zone coverage, "A.J. disappears," a team source said. Brown's yards per reception (11.7, down from 14.1) and yards per target (7.3, down from 9.1) dipped substantially when facing zone, and he caught only two of his seven TDs against the coverage.”
A.J. Brown might not be the savior Patriots fans are hoping for
The idea of adding a wide receiver of Brown’s size, speed, and physicality to this Patriots roster is almost too good to be true. He would legitimately be the Patriots’ most dominant wide receiver since Randy Moss.
But until the Patriots can start burning opponents who consistently sit back in a zone defense with two high safeties, Brown’s sublime talent alone isn’t going to be enough to move the needle.
New England’s offense was dominant throughout the 2025 regular season, leading the league in yards per pass attempt. But Maye’s production took a noticeable turn starting in Week 15, when the Patriots lost a 35-31 shootout to Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills.
Sean McDermott stymied the Patriots’ passing attack that day with a zone-heavy game plan, with a heavy emphasis on Cover 6. Maye struggled to his worst passing performance of the season, and it didn’t get much better in the biggest games that followed as opponents began stealing a page from McDermott’s playbook.
The Seattle Seahawks finished with the third-highest zone rate in football during the regular season, so, naturally, they were a bad matchup for the Patriots in the Super Bowl. They were also one of the top Cover 6 teams in the league, and according to analytics expert Warren Sharp, they used that look on 63 percent of their snaps in the first quarter alone as Maye and company were held scoreless in the first half.
The Patriots struggled against zone looks for two main reasons: They couldn’t protect the passer against four-man rushes, and they couldn’t keep defenses honest with their rushing attack. For as great as Brown is, especially in one-on-one situations down the field, he probably wouldn’t have been the Patriots’ savior in 2025.
Could he be the team’s savior in 2026 if he lands in Foxboro this summer via trade? He definitely wouldn’t hurt, but the Patriots’ problems go deeper than simply going to the market and buying an alpha wide receiver. They'll need to start scaring opponents out of two-high looks before they can fully realize the impact of a mega talent like Brown.