A.J. Brown’s first season with the Patriots has been defined by one setback after another, and now New England is bracing to be without him again.
Brown is not traveling with the team to Miami this weekend, meaning he’ll miss Sunday’s game against the Dolphins because of a knee injury that surfaced during practice this week. The issue was known to Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf when the team traded for Brown on June 1. With Brown sidelined, the Patriots will have only three healthy wide receivers available: DeMario Douglas, Kyle Williams and Efton Chism III.
It will be Brown’s fifth missed game in the first eight weeks of the 2026 season. He already sat out four games while on injured reserve after suffering a high-ankle sprain in the Week 1 opener against the Seattle Seahawks.
Brown came back in Week 6 against the New York Jets and played again in Week 7 against the Chicago Bears, but his return hit another snag when he couldn’t finish Wednesday’s practice because of the knee flare-up. He then did not practice Thursday or Friday.
New England’s offense is also dealing with more than just Brown’s absence. According to the team website, "New England's offense will be shorthanded in Miami without three of its top wide receivers: Brown, Doubs, and Hollins.
Still, Maye can elevate his supporting cast against a Dolphins pass defense that ranks last in pass EPA (+0.298), passer rating allowed (116.8), and completion percentage allowed (76.6%). Although it's never ideal to be down three key contributors."
Even when Brown has been on the field, the production hasn’t matched the expectation. In his second full game with the Patriots, he caught three passes on six targets for 48 yards and had trouble contributing in the run game.
Across two games since returning, Brown has just six catches on 16 targets for 75 yards and has also lost a fumble. He said this week that he is still dealing with the high-ankle sprain that kept him out earlier in the year, and that he is still "pushing through" the effects.
When asked whether he was still trying to regain his explosiveness after the injury, Brown said: "Yeah, sometimes, you know, I see it, and sometimes, I'm pushing through," he admitted. "But none of that stuff even matters. I'm out here, so I'm going."
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For Miami, it is the kind of development worth watching closely because the Dolphins know how quickly one nagging injury can ripple through a division race. Buffalo has leaned on Browns availability and toughness, but the bigger question now is how long that can last if the back continues to be an issue, especially with the season moving into the stretch where every lineup decision starts to matter more. [Read more 🡒]