A.J. Brown didn’t sound like a newcomer trying to tiptoe around his quarterback. He sounded like a receiver already comfortable enough to joke with Drake Maye - and confident enough to say exactly what he thinks.
In a sit-down with Devin McCourty for NBC’s Sunday Night Football coverage ahead of Wednesday’s opener, Brown had plenty of praise for the Patriots quarterback. He called Maye a great teammate, said he takes the blame for every little mistake, and then basically told him to relax.
“He’s such a great guy. He always takes the blame for every little thing.
I’m like, ‘Drake, it’s OK. It’s not that deep.’
He’s incredible! Fun to play with.
I can’t wait.”
Brown also talked up Maye’s arm, telling Newsweek that the quarterback can make any throw from anywhere on the field, even if he still gets annoyed when the ball isn’t put exactly in his hands 30 or 40 yards downfield. Maye returned the compliment, telling McCourty that having Brown around makes it easier because he does not have to be perfect on every snap.
That chemistry matters because this is a brand-new pairing. The Patriots landed Brown from the Philadelphia Eagles on June 1 in a deal that sent a 2028 first-round pick and a 2027 fifth-round pick back to Philadelphia, according to AP News.
The move reunited Brown with head coach Mike Vrabel, who coached him in Tennessee from 2019 to 2021. Brown is now heading into his first season in New England after four years with the Eagles, while Maye enters his third NFL season after the Patriots drafted him third overall in 2024.
The numbers help explain why New England wanted Brown in the first place. He finished 2025 with 78 catches for 1,003 yards and seven touchdowns in 15 games, per the Patriots’ official roster page.
That was his fourth straight 1,000-yard season. His biggest totals came in 2022 and 2023, when he posted 1,496 yards and 1,456 yards, respectively.
Maye’s 2025 season was just as productive. He started all 17 regular-season games and went 14-3, completing 354 of 492 passes for 4,394 yards, 31 touchdowns and eight interceptions, according to NFL.com career stats.
He also ran 103 times for 450 yards and four touchdowns. New England earned the No. 2 seed in the AFC, then knocked off the Chargers, Texans and Broncos in the playoffs before falling 29-13 to the Seahawks in Super Bowl LX, as reported by The Athletic.
The Patriots needed a true No. 1 receiver after releasing Stefon Diggs in March, and Brown gives Maye a different kind of target. His size, contested-catch ability and yards-after-catch skill add a dimension the offense did not have last season. That’s part of why Brown said Maye has made his job easier.
New England opens the 2026 season on Wednesday at 8:20 p.m. ET on the road against the defending champion Seahawks on NBC, a Super Bowl rematch at Lumen Field. Brown and Maye have spent the offseason building the connection they’ll take into that game, and Brown’s comments suggest the relationship is already in a good place.
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Vrabel has kept the focus on football in recent public comments, declining to address the report directly during a press conference and steering the conversation back to the matchup ahead. But the unresolved questions around the episode still hang over a game that should have been about the Seahawks measuring themselves against a new-look Patriots team, making this opener feel a little less like a clean start and a little more like a story with another chapter still to come. [Read more 🡒]