A.J. Brown Torches Old Eagles Teammates in Patriots' Joint Practice

A.J. Brown made his first appearance against Philadelphia since the June trade to New England, and he treated Wednesday's joint practice in Foxborough like it counted. By the reporter's count, Brown caught all seven of his targets across 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 work — the kind of stat line that travels straight from the practice field into a fantasy conversation. Coming off a 2025 season of 78 catches, 1,003 yards and 7 touchdowns (220 PPR points), the WR looks anything but rusty at 28.

His only stumble came on the very first rep, a would-be 40-yard touchdown from Drake Maye that Brown could only graze with his left hand against All-Pro corner Quinyon Mitchell. Brown took the blame for the drop, chalking it up to attention to detail. Everything after that was clean, including a sideline grab over Eagles corner Riq Woolen that he corralled while keeping both feet in bounds.

The Maye Connection Is the Real Story

For fantasy purposes, forget the revenge-game framing. What matters is how quickly Brown and Maye are syncing. Brown said he's fully comfortable in Josh McDaniels' offense and moved all over the formation rather than living on one side. Maye peppered him with targets as the session ramped up, and the second-year QB is already our QB3 (overall #9) off a monster 2025 — 4,394 passing yards, 31 TD and 8 INT for 354 PPR points across 17 games.

That's the profile you want feeding a possession-plus-vertical alpha. Brown's role isn't in question, and a quarterback with Maye's rushing floor keeps the whole passing game live even on off-scripts. His deep-ball completion to Brown down the right sideline is exactly the type of play that turns a WR2 into a weekly WR1.

What About Hurts and the Eagles Side?

The subplot everyone wanted was a Brown-Jalen Hurts reunion, given their reportedly strained finish in Philly. It didn't happen — Brown said he hasn't spoken to Hurts since the trade, insisting there's love on his end and asking that the storyline be kept positive. He was happy to catch up with Saquon Barkley, Jordan Mailata and Cam Jurgens on the sideline instead. Hurts (our QB7, 315 PPR points in 2025) stayed on the far field getting throws in.

The fantasy takeaway: Brown is a buy-low. He sits at WR11 in our rankings, which feels like a discount for a target hog with proven QB play and last-year form that trended up (+4 fantasy points over his final five games versus his season average). If a nervous manager in your league is spooked by the team change, pounce. Draft him as a rock-solid WR1 and don't overthink it.