In his first season with the Patriots, there are high expectations for what A.J. Brown can accomplish not only with quarterback Drake Maye but also in his reunion with head coach Mike Vrabel. The receiver began his career with him in Tennessee, as Vrabel was part of the staff that drafted him in 2019, and he helped Brown become the superstar he is today.
Projections already predict that Maye will have the best season of his career now that he has a legitimate WR1 to work with, and Brown could accomplish something they haven't had the luxury of much over the past six years: recording 1,000+ receiving yards.
One analyst even believes there's a chance that he could be in the running for Offensive Player of the Year. That hasn't gone to a Patriot since Tom Brady in 2010.
It wouldn't be all that shocking, considering just how good Brown has been throughout his career so far. He has hit the 1,000+ receiving yards mark every season but 2021 when he missed four games due to injury.
On top of that, the way things ended in Philadelphia will surely give him more motivation to prove the naysayers wrong, especially since he is now playing for his favorite childhood team. So you'd think that those who aren't necessarily rooting for him wouldn't want to give him more to put on his bulletin board, right?
Well, CBS Sports' Pete Prisco just did that, whether intentionally or accidentally, with his latest ranking, and it's clear there is a bit of disrespect thrown Brown's way.
Latest NFL rankings prove the league is overlooking the massive impact A.J. Brown will have on the Patriots
While ranking the top 100 players in the NFL going into the 2026 season, Prisco placed Brown at No. 64.
While seeing that he is the 7th-best receiver on his list isn't terrible when you see the players he ranked ahead of him (CeeDee Lamb, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Puka Nacua, Justin Jefferson, and Ja'Marr Chase), it's the fact that he's all the way down in the second half of the rankings that is problematic.
Are there really 64 players better than Brown? Prisco seems to think so, and in some ways he may be correct. It's not easy to evaluate talent position by position.
However, Brown has played better than the 64th best player in the NFL, and if anything, this new ranking could become the added motivation he needed to play even better, and that is far from what the rest of the league wants to see with the Patriots.
It's already widely frustrating to see they're back in the Super Bowl conversation again after only falling to the bottom of the league for five years. Rivals were certainly hoping their rebuild would last much longer- decades even- so seeing that the Patriots successfully traded for a player like Brown only ensures they'll remain a contender for years to come.
That will only be amplified if Brown produces on the field the way many predict he will, especially when working with a quarterback as talented as Maye. Not to mention, the receiver has a solid cast around him, such as Kayshon Boutte and Romeo Doubs, both of whom will be infinitely better with the 3-time Pro Bowler on the team.
The last thing the Patriots' rivals need is an even more motivated Brown, but from what we've seen so far since he joined the team, it's fair to assume he already has it.
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