FOXBOROUGH, Mass. \u2014 A.J. Brown wears the number one on his jersey. And that made sense in just about every way during the New England Patriots\u2019 joint practices with the Philadelphia Eagles this week. He was the best receiver on either team during the sessions. He was the Patriots\u2019 No. 1 weapon. He was worth a first-round pick \u2014 a “1” \u2014 in a trade between the two teams this offseason. And he was the No. 1 point of interest as fans and media members watched practices. It\u2019s because of the trade, of course. It\u2019s because of the drama that unfolded between Brown and Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts. It\u2019s about Brown\u2019s criticisms of the “passing game” when he was in Philly. It\u2019s about Brown\u00a0openly mocking his own lack of production in 2025. And it\u2019s about the fresh start in New England. “He looks a little better, a little faster,” Eagles cornerback Quinyon Mitchell said after practice Wednesday. “He\u2019s going to keep getting better. \u2026 He just gives you so many tough battles and tough assignments. It was really just great to go out there and compete with him again today.” With Brown\u2019s unpredictability, however, there\u2019s always the wonder of: What will he do next \u2014 on the field and off it? (And will something go wrong?) That\u2019s why a reporter asked Hurts if he\u2019d give any advice to Patriots quarterback Drake Maye about getting the most out of Brown. “I think Drake has had a lot of success already, so I don\u2019t know what my advice would do,” Hurts said Wednesday. “I just think he needs to continue the progression that he\u2019s on.” Brown didn\u2019t speak to Hurts before or after that first practice. Nor did Brown connect with Eagles WR1 DeVonta Smith on day one. But during the second day, Brown walked over to Smith to chat for a few minutes. Brown then found Hurts after practice on Thursday. “It\u2019s not about no closure or anything,” Brown said after Wednesday\u2019s joint practice. “It\u2019s love. I won a Super Bowl ring with them. It\u2019s always going to be love no matter how anyone feels. I love Philly and I will always love Philly. But I\u2019m here now and this is where my feet are and that\u2019s where I\u2019m focusing.” It felt inauspicious when Brown started competitive drills on Wednesday in a one-on-one against former teammate Quinyon Mitchell. Though Brown created easy separation on a fade route, running directly downfield for the end zone, Maye underthrew the ball and Mitchell logged a relatively easy pass breakup. But Brown argued it wasn\u2019t exactly clean. “Q got away with a little holding,” Brown said with a laugh. “I won, he pulled himself back into the play, and I just have to finish the play. My right hand didn\u2019t get to the ball quick enough. My left hand got on the ball. That\u2019s on me. \u2026 That could have been a 40-yard bomb, but now it\u2019s a long foul ball. Those are the things I\u2019m focusing on.” That play did not, however, prove predictive of how Brown would fare over the two days when he had more than 10 catches in team drills and countless touchdowns. He spent most of the two days running against Mitchell \u2014 with a few matchups against cornerback Riq Woolen, the No. 2 option in Philly. In one case, Maye\u2019s ball placement to Brown proved simply impossible to defend, with the Patriots QB dropping the pass over Woolen for a big catch-and-run for Brown. Brown\u2019s most dominant play came in an 11-on-11 red zone drill. He couldn\u2019t get open in the end zone, trying to work to the sideline, where Mitchell had outside leverage (blocking Brown\u2019s path). Maye looked at the situation and, while it was a no-throw look, the QB threw it that way anyway. Brown fought back for the ball and a touchdown. It was a sign of how much Maye has come to trust Brown. They had no business attempting \u2014 let alone completing \u2014 the play. They did it, anyway. The Eagles, meanwhile, were feeling Brown\u2019s absence \u2014 and then some. Top receivers Smith and rookie Makai Lemon were both out with hamstring strains, which left Hurts to work with Hollywood Brown, Dontayvion Wicks and Britain Covey, among others. Hurts threw three interceptions in 7-on-7s on Wednesday and then threw two more in 11-on-11s on Thursday. This passing offense might require patience from the fans in Philly. I\u2019m just not sure that we can expect patience from the fans in Philly. Other Observations From Patriots-Eagles Joint Practice: Saquon Barkley looked about as quick and explosive as I\u2019ve seen him. This is the time of year when teams blow smoke about breakout players and resurgent players and best-shape-of-their-life players. But it\u2019s not an exaggeration to say that the 29-year-old running back dominated the Patriots’ defense on the first day of practice. He was solid on day two. It was all the more impressive considering the Eagles\u2019 struggles in the passing game. It\u2019s easy to imagine that, without Brown, Barkley could\u00a0become the lifeblood of the unit, both as a runner and pass-catcher. “We’ll see the Saquon of two years ago,” Eagles tackle Lane Johnson said after day one. “We’ll see the big plays. We\u2019ll see him flexed out at receiver. We\u2019ll see him in the screen game. You saw a bit of it [Wednesday].” If that\u2019s true (and it looked like it might be), the Eagles will once again be dangerous, even without Brown. Be careful of what you see in one-on-one drills (like in the video below) \u2014 as opposed to what\u2019s reported about team drills. They can tell two different stories. Don\u2019t get me wrong, it\u2019s incredible to watch the drama unfold in a one-on-one. But it\u2019s also not exactly\u00a0real football like an 11-on-11 or even a 7-on-7. (There\u2019s also a reason you\u2019ll mostly see one-on-one clips on social media. Because of team rules, it\u2019s generally OK to record one-on-ones but it\u2019s\u00a0not allowed, league-wide, for reporters to record 7-on-7s and 11-on-11s.) So that\u2019s all to say: Some guys shine in one-on-ones and then disappear in 11-on-11s \u2026 when it counts. And in these practices, Eagles receiver Dontayvion Wicks was one of those guys. Many members of the fantasy community have already turned him into their darling \u2014 or sleeper. I\u2019d like to offer a word of caution: Wicks had every reason to shine in team drills, with Smith and Lemon injured \u2014 and Patriots cornerbacks Christian Gonzalez and Carlton Davis\u00a0also injured. Yet in all his work with Hurts on day one, Wicks had two catches on three targets \u2014 and the missed pass wasn\u2019t just an incompletion (in 7-on-7), it tipped off Wicks’ hands and deflected into the hands of Patriots safety Charles Woods. On day two, Wicks had another drop and, later, he saw Marcus Jones undercut his route for an interception on Hurts. After the Super Bowl, there was as much interest in Patriots left tackle Will Campbell as any offensive lineman in recent memory \u2014 at least in New England. Campbell struggled mightily during the playoffs, and those issues culminated in the Super Bowl when he allowed 14 pressures and a sack against the Seattle Seahawks. It was a terrible performance by the rookie, who was the fourth overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. But listen to what five-time All-Pro tackle Johnson had to say about spending the offseason working with Campbell. “Will just kind of reminds me of myself in a way. Just a country kid, drafted first round, so I know the kind of pressures that are on guys like that. And so, for me, I thought he had a really good rookie season,” Johnson said Wednesday. “You can see him getting better. He looks thicker, bigger. He’s healed up from his knee injury.” I\u2019ve referred to Gonzalez\u2019s absence already in this postcard. The Pro Bowl corner was not on the field for any of the Patriots\u2019 three joint practices with the Eagles and the Colts. It feels like it wasn\u2019t that big of a storyline, because the opponents\u2019 top receivers (Smith and Alec Pierce) weren\u2019t on the field either. But Gonzalez is the Patriots\u2019 most important defender. It\u2019s a big deal he\u2019s not there. It\u2019s a bigger deal that New England still hasn\u2019t exactly clarified\u00a0why he\u2019s not there. Head coach Mike Vrabel hasn\u2019t outright said that Gonzalez is injured. The coach also hasn\u2019t outright confirmed that Gonzalez is holding in. But that\u2019s what\u2019s clearly happening, even if no one will admit it. The cornerback wants a big contract, and while the Patriots and Gonzalez\u2019s camps did discuss an extension back at the combine in February, per a source, there doesn\u2019t seem to have been much progress. “Josh [McDaniels] is incredible, man. He’s making my job a lot easier, and he’s creating matchups for me, moving me around.” \u2014 A.J. Brown, who worked with four different offensive coordinators in four years in Philly For the Eagles, it\u2019s really about getting their top two receivers, Smith and Lemon, healthy. Barkley, Hurts and tight end Dallas Goedert are good players. But this offense will need help at receiver to truly reach its full potential. That isn\u2019t to say Philly should rush Smith and Lemon back. The Eagles have the Commanders in Week 1 and the Titans in Week 2. Both are beatable \u2014 perhaps even without those two guys. But by Weeks 3 and 4, when they\u2019ll have to face the Bears and the Rams, the Eagles will want their receivers healthy and in-sync with Hurts. Philly’s defense is definitely going to be good \u2014 but maybe not transcendent. Given what we saw from the Patriots’ offense (which posted really strong performances), it seems good teams will be able to move the ball on the Eagles. And so the offense won\u2019t be able to rely quite as much on the defense. For New England, it\u2019s really starting to look like Super Bowl or bust. The Patriots have now drubbed the Colts and the Eagles over three total days of joint practices. Drake Maye appears to have continued to progress in the ways the Patriots wanted. He had a boneheaded interception each day, so it’s not perfect. But Brown makes life a whole lot easier. And defensive tackle Dre\u2019Mont Jones and receiver Romeo Doubs, both offseason additions, are quietly proving their worth, too. The Patriots still need some help off the edge. There are also some lingering questions about the quality they\u2019ll get from their interior offensive line. But on the whole, this team will be in terrific shape when it gets Gonzalez and Davis back in the starting lineup. There\u2019s continuity. There\u2019s more talent. There might be a tougher schedule, but the Patriots took the time and spent the money to fortify themselves against the increased degree of difficulty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. \u2014 A.J. Brown wears the number one on his jersey. And that made sense in just about every way during the New England Patriots\u2019 joint practices with the Philadelphia Eagles this week. He was the best receiver on either team during the sessions. He was the Patriots\u2019 No. 1 weapon. He was worth<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33290"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33290\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}