Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - BREAKING: A.J. Brown TRADED to the New England Patriots!!!

Starting point is 00:00:00 All the talk is over. The time has come. A.J. Brown is officially a New England Patriot, and Drake May now has a bona fide alpha to throw the football, too. This is Locked-on Patriots. You are Locked-on Patriots. Your daily New England Patriots podcast. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day.

Starting point is 00:00:30 What's happening? I am your host of Nick Cattles. On today's show, Mike Vrable's impact on this show, trade cannot and should not be overlooked. In the second segment, we discuss whether or not the Pat's overpaid to make this deal happen. But first, it's official, folks. A.J. Brown is headed to Foxborough. We have been pining and at times downright whining about the need to have a bona fide alpha receiver on this football team. How many years have we spent over and over and over discussing and imagining having someone like A.J. Brown on this football team.

Starting point is 00:01:10 Now it is a reality. After sitting around for months, after the nonstop conjecture late last week, oh, it might not happen on June 1st. Things might stall out. Howie Roseman. He wants a first round pick. Pats don't want to give up a first round pick, yada, yada, yada, yada. Ladies and gentlemen, the Patriots have landed.

Starting point is 00:01:33 their bona fide alpha wide receiver. And A.J. Brown is going to have a huge impact on this football team. This addition, first and foremost, tells the room that Mike Vrable, the front office, the crafts, they're serious. I do not want to hear another single word about Robert Kraft not willing to spend picking up A.J. Brown. I don't want to hear it. Mike Vrable, he's not content going to the.

Starting point is 00:02:03 the Super Bowl last year. Elliot Wolf, he's not content going to the Super Bowl last year. The Patriots exceeded all expectations in 2025. They come back this offseason and they load up. They upgrade. They bring in A.J. Brown and company. And you know who cares? Milton Williams, who is posting on social media jiffs of Batman.

Starting point is 00:02:27 Kevin Byard posting smiling with sunglasses emojis. I mean, this team understands. When you take a swing like this, when you bring in a talent like A.J. Brown, you are making a statement to every single player in that locker room. We are serious. We are legitimate. We're not happy just winning football games. We want to win championships. That is the statement made by this move. The vibes in the room have to be great. The vibes have to be spectacular. Dear I say that the vibes, on Monday, June 1st, 503 Eastern Time, have to be immaculate. Everybody in that room knows what's going on. You now have somebody in the wide receiver room that you have to game plan for. Rodney Harrison told Mike Reese over the weekend. AJ Brown, quote, he still has it.

Starting point is 00:03:23 When AJ is engaged and excited to play and feels like he's a big part of the game plan, there's not many better than him. So yes, I know my buddy Greg Bedard would do. disagree, but I would consider A.J. Brown a game plan guy. And I would also consider A.J. Brown, someone who theoretically will force double coverage. You know, Greg Bedard wrote B.S.J. If you're expecting A.J. Brown to be Randy Moss and garnered the attention of both the cornerback and the safety on half of the field, you're going to be disappointed. In the four games I watched, I did not see the safeties keeping an eye on Brown. Now, there's some conflicting

Starting point is 00:04:03 info regarding A.J. Brown getting double teamed on the internet. Okay. It's the internet. There's some conflicting, uh, information as far as A.J. Brown getting double teamed this past year, getting double teamed in 2024. There's a TikTok out there saying that, you know, AJ Brown was double teamed almost 50% of the time. Look, all I'll say is this. He is a legitimate bona fide number one guy. He is an alpha receiver. In my counter to the idea of that AJ Brown was not dictating double coverage last year. Number one, I would say his usage, his usage in this offense in Philly, which we will get to at some point during this week, the usage of AJ Brown and that Eagles offense last year was laughable. It was brutal.

Starting point is 00:04:51 It was predictable. And when you run a predictable offense, sometimes defenses are not going to overreact and double a guy because they're pretty confident what's going to be thrown at them. You also can look at, you know, the fact you have Jalen Hertz, who is really a first read type receiver. And, you know, you're looking at this situation and you're saying, okay, well, now you have this deal where you don't have a quarterback who is limited like that. You just don't. You don't have that type of quarterback who, you know, is limited like Jalen Hertz is. Again, this is all stuff that we will cover in depth during this week. But when you're looking at, you know, A.J. Brown's usage and the attention he got, he didn't get,

Starting point is 00:05:40 we have to always consider the context of the Philadelphia Eagles offense and how highly predictable it was and how it wasn't good at all. They went out and they fired. They went out and they fired their offensive coordinator, Kevin Petulow, for a reason. And I do think at times, A.J. Brown is going to garner all sorts of. attention. I do think with Josh McDaniels being able to, you know, situate these wide receivers in different ways, I think that's going to cause headaches for defense. I do think that A.J. Brown is going to draw the number one corner almost every single week. I think A.J. Brown is a good enough wide receiver to force the opposition's hand to say, we're going to put that number one outside

Starting point is 00:06:24 cornerback. If we have one of those guys, we're going to put that dude on A.J. Brown. I still think you look at AJ Brown, you look at Drake, man, you look at this Patriots offense, in priority number one, when you're defending this team in the past is you have to limit AJ Brown. I still feel that is the case. I don't care nearly as much about what happened in Philly last year as some others do. A.J. Brown is a big play contested catch threat who can get downfield. He's not the speedster. He's not as good as he once was getting down the field, but he is. is still very capable of getting down the field and making plays. Fieldyates of ESPN posted.

Starting point is 00:07:06 A.J. Brown scored 18 touchdowns in receptions of 20-plus air yards during his four seasons with the Eagles. That is the most in the NFL. If you're wondering, Drake May led the NFL in air yards per attempt and yards per attempt last year. Seems like a good fit, doesn't it? Greg Coasell, who I respect and appreciate. Greg Kosell talking about A.J. Brown recently says, you know, A.J. Brown works between the numbers. He's impactful between the numbers. He is dangerous between the numbers because he has the size that he has, six foot two, two, 225. He's got fantastic hands. He is willing and able to play through contact. He's not afraid of going through the middle. Defensive backs will bounce off him. AJ Brown is a physical specimen.

Starting point is 00:07:59 He is a bully on the football field. He is a different type of guy. He is a different type of receiver than the Patriots have had in a long time. We're talking about the physicality. We're talking about the tone, what he brings to the football field to go along with the size and the hands and the ability to play through that contact. We talk about yards after the catch.

Starting point is 00:08:25 A.J. Brown historically has been one of the better receivers when it comes to yards after the catch during his NFL career. And that's something the Patriots haven't always had. He is a guy who can take a slant route 20, 30, 40 yards. Back shoulder throws. You want to talk about Drake May trusting A.J. Brown and throwing those back shoulder throws. A.J. Brown is fantastic when it comes to back shoulder throws. He's fantastic. boxing out the corners that he's playing against. To go along with those hands. He's versatile. He can play outside. He's going to play a lot at the boundary. You've been watching me and listening to me for a while, hopefully.

Starting point is 00:09:10 And you know, many of you know, I've been screaming from the mountaintops about having a boundary X receiver. This is a guy who is a boundary X receiver. He is Kashan booty on steroids. plus plus plus. So he's going to play on the outside, but he also can play the big slot. So that's going to open up a lot of different things

Starting point is 00:09:33 that you can do offensively. He is a good blocking wide receiver. He's not spectacular at blocking, but he is good enough. He's more than good enough. So he can play outside. He can play inside. He is a go-to guy for Drake May.

Starting point is 00:09:48 When Drake May needs to find somebody, when Drake May needs to try, to trust someone. And yes, I know everybody watched the last playoff game and A.J. Brown was not good in that Philly playoff game. He dropped multiple passes. He and Nick Seriani got into it on the sideline. I think you're going to have a much more focused, a much more motivated,

Starting point is 00:10:10 and a much happier A.J. Brown in 2026. And he's going to be somebody that Drake May can trust. Big third down, you need it. AJ Brown. Big fourth down, you need it. it, A.J. Brown. Red zone, you need it. A.J. Brown. This is somebody who has won a title. Somebody who knows what a team needs to do to win a title. He's got that championship experience. He's gone on a number of deep playoff runs. He's worked with Mike Vrable. He understands what your head coach

Starting point is 00:10:41 wants and needs. And he can deliver that message to the rest of the locker room just in case there's any confusion. He's a straight up dog. Greg CoSell, again, he called A.J. Brown at his best. He is a top five receiver in the league. That was on the, I believe, Ross Tucker podcast. ESPN's receiver score metric, Bill Barnwell wrote about this. The ESPN receiver score metric ratings updated weekly using player tracking data from

Starting point is 00:11:16 NFL Next Gen. stats to evaluate every route a pass catcher runs and scores his performance in three phases of the game from zero to 99. The three phases, does the guy get open? Does he catch the football? Does he provide yards after the catch? Bill Barnwell, do you want to know where A.J. Brown has ranked in the ESPN wide receiver score metric throughout his NFL career?

Starting point is 00:11:40 As long as that metric has existed. A.J. Brown, in each year he's been in the league, in the, the, ESPN wide receiver scoring metric finished second, fifth, seventh, first, second, first. And last year, by the way, he was sixth. So to talk about the decline, A.J. Brown still finished as the sixth best receiver in the game last year, according to ESPN's receiver score metric. He's never, never finished worse than seventh in that category. Pro football focus had A.J. Brown with an 83 overall grade last year.

Starting point is 00:12:19 13th among 81 qualified wide receivers. His receiving grade of 85.9 ranked 11th among 81 qualified wide receivers. Greg Kosell says at his best, he's a top five guy. ESPN's wide receiver score metric says he was sixth last year in the NFL. Pro football focus has him ranked receiving grade wise just outside the top 10 at number 11 among 81 qualified receivers. Right now, you cannot say that A.J. Brown, is any worse than a top 15 receiver in football.

Starting point is 00:12:52 And you could make the argument using some of the information I just gave you that he is a top 10 receiver still to this day in the NFL. Woof. I feel like I'm on fire. I'm excited. We all knew that AJ Brown was likely headed to New England, but we did not know the exact cost. We do now.

Starting point is 00:13:16 We'll get into it next. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. now the number one sports podcast network, your team every day. The NBA finals are here in every single possession matters. Just ask Cleveland and those other teams that have lost, including Boston. If you're looking to get even closer to the action, Fandul has a great offer to get you started. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins.

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Starting point is 00:14:20 Again, that's Fandul.com to get started. Fandul, play your game. We all knew that A.J. Brown was likely headed to New England, but what was going to be the cost? Well, the back and forth on the compensation was it going to be a 2027 first, a 2027 first and a 2028 second. Maybe a 2027 first and a 2027 second. How about the 2028 first in a pick swap? Well, now we know the reality. 2028 first round pick in a 2027 fifth round pick.

Starting point is 00:14:56 Go to Philadelphia, A.J. Brown to New England. Overpay. We'll get to that in a second, but thank you for making us your first listen for being an everydayer. Get your daily Patriots fix completely ad free by joining the Everydayer Club today. Start your seven day free trial right now. Get closer to your team without the interruptions. Click the link in the show notes or go to lockdown Patriots. to claim your free trial. And if you're watching us on YouTube, help a brother out, help a channel out,

Starting point is 00:15:24 click that thumbs up. Give us the like. If you're excited about A.J. Brown being a Patriot, click that thumbs up. Don't forget to throw your comment in. I want all of your comments. I'm going to get to a couple of them in about a minute. Don't forget to throw your comments in.

Starting point is 00:15:37 And don't forget to subscribe. We're trying to hit 10,000 subscribers. That is the next goal right here with Lock on Patriots. All right. Let's get to a couple of comments here before I get to the cost and whether or not it was an overpay. Nick P underscore 77. I can't wait to see how McDaniels uses him.

Starting point is 00:15:54 Neither can I. We're going to break that down a little bit later this week. We're going to have so many, so many segments on A.J. Brown, your head is going to spin this week. Pillar to Post is going to be the coverage. T.F. underscore Patriot, Eagles fans thought they were getting a first and Christian Gonzalez. Yeah, those fans were absolutely delusional. The ones who thought they were going to get a first and a second were delusional.

Starting point is 00:16:16 Joe underscore the drummer. People used to complain the organization would never pony up the assets for premium players. They finally did it. Even if we only get two years of good production, it's worth it for Drake. And finally, we've got Timothy Patch who says it's an overpay. I don't care. It's an overpay. I don't care.

Starting point is 00:16:40 So again, the official terms, 2028 first round pick and the better of the Patriots fifth round picks and next year's The Patriots have two fifth round picks. They have their own fifth round pick, and they have the Chicago Bears fifth round pick from the Garrett Bradbury trade. So it's going to be the better of those two fifth round picks in next year's draft. And I'm perfectly fine with this deal. And I understand. I understand you can argue it is an overpay. You can argue it's a slight overpay, but I'm fine with it.

Starting point is 00:17:14 And this is not hindsight. This is not me changing my fee. feelings because the Patriots now have AJ Brown and I want to change. I want to change my thought on, you know, how much they had to give up. Jalen Waddle was traded to Denver. And when Jalen Waddle was traded to Denver, he went to the Broncos for essentially a first round pick and a third round pick. There were fourth round picks involved, but those fourth round picks, let's just say they

Starting point is 00:17:42 cancel out. So in essence, Jalen Waddle went to Denver for a. first and a third. I posted, I posted at Twitter on March 18th. So again, this is not hindsight. This is not me changing my story. I've been pretty consistent as far as cost-wise as soon as the Waddle trade happened. Back on March 18th, I believe I also did a podcast on this right here with Lockdown Patriots.

Starting point is 00:18:09 I had said after that Jalen Waddle trade that a first round pick and a fourth round pick was fair value if that first round pick was going to happen in 2026 because you knew exactly where you were. The Patriots were at 31. Denver was at 30. If you're making that deal, you know, the 31st pick in a future fourth round pick would make a lot of sense if you looked at that Waddle trade. I posted that on March 18th. That's how long we've been talking about this. It's two and a half months ago. If you look at the Jimmy Johnson trade value chart, it's fair value.

Starting point is 00:18:48 If you look at first and a fourth. And you look at J.L. You look at J. Brown. If you look at A.J. Brown, going to do that a million times. If you look at A.J. Brown and J. Waddle, A.J. Brown's knee is obviously an issue. A.J. Brown is older. A.J. Brown is on the decline.

Starting point is 00:19:08 Jalen Waddle not yet on the decline. And A.J. Brown also had a decent amount of drama surrounding him the past couple of years in Philly. So that's why I said Jalen Waddle, a first and a third. And I think Eagles fans were like, AJ Brown's better than Jalen Waddle. Philly's getting a first in a second. I didn't think that way. I didn't agree with that. I thought that A.J. Brown had slightly less value than Waddle because of the things I just said. So if Waddle goes for a first and a fourth, And that first was in this year's draft where you knew you were going to draft, then a first and a fourth was going to be fair compared to that first and a third.

Starting point is 00:19:46 Now, of course, a first round pick in 2027 to me had higher value. And I was not willing to give up a first round pick in 2027 because, A, you don't know where you're going to be picking. And B, the 2027 draft is expected to be absolutely freaking loaded. I did not want the Patriots to give up a first round pick in 2027. I had said a lot over the past several weeks that I was okay at the end of the day giving up a 2028 first round pick. Because you're going to have two years of A.J. Brown's impact on this football team. Your offense should be much better.

Starting point is 00:20:25 Even if A.J. Brown is not a top five receiver in the game anymore. He is still somebody who is going to positively impact your offense this year and next year. And Drake May is going to continue to grow. Drake May should continue to get better. And so the numbers might not be better, but his play. You would expect him to continue to get better as he learns more about the game, plays against different defensive looks, and as Tom Brady once said, feels like he has the answers to the questions.

Starting point is 00:20:54 So now you've got two years of A.J. Brown and Drake May playing together. Two full years. That's good. The 2027 draft, again, it's loaded. And the Patriots right now, you have a pick. in every round, including three sixth round picks in next year's draft, which will give you flexibility. You did have to trade a fifth round pick. Again, it'll be the better of your two fifth round picks in next year's draft. But here's the thing. I would expect the Patriots to trade Kashan

Starting point is 00:21:24 booty sooner rather than later. And I would absolutely, I would absolutely anticipate the Patriots trading booty for a third day pick in next year's draft. or a pick in the 2028 draft, which will help you fight off some of the value you gave up here. Because you're replacing Kishan Bouty with A.J. Brown, who is an absolute upgrade, and you're going to end up getting a pick in return for Kishan Bouty, which will help offset what you had to give up for Brown in this deal.

Starting point is 00:22:01 Do you trust Mike Vrable? Do you trust this front office? Do you trust what you've seen the past two off seasons? Do you trust that? If you trust that, then you should trust that by the time you get to the 2028 draft, the Patriots should be one of the best teams in football yet again, should be competing at the highest of levels. The Patriots, by the time you get to that 2028 draft,

Starting point is 00:22:25 would have had three full draft classes, three, three agency periods, plus the internal development from the guys that you drafted and brought in with this coaching staff. This gives you much more landing space if you're the Patriots. Three full drafts, three full free agency periods and internal development. You should be good enough that this pick is in 2028, somewhere in the 20s, if not the 30s. And you can only make a deal given the intel, given the info that you have right now.

Starting point is 00:23:03 I understand people will say, I'm worried about injury, I'm worried about this, I'm worried about that. injuries are always a risk in any trade you make. Would I have loved getting back a fourth round pick? Apps are freaking lootly. That's what I was pushing. I was pushing my latest, my fully developed opinion on this was, hey, trade a first and a fifth in 2028

Starting point is 00:23:28 and get A.J. Brown and a fourth round pick back. They didn't. The pick swap didn't happen. It's a first and 28, a fifth and a fifth. the next year's draft for AJ Brown. So I get it. You can argue it's a slight overpay. I don't care.

Starting point is 00:23:45 I would rather have AJ Brown on this football team for the next two to three years than worrying about what that pick's going to look like in 2020. Coming up, the difference Mike Vrable makes when evaluating this deal. It's a big one. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Today's episode is brought you by Indeed. We talk a lot about the chaos of the NFL off season, but let's talk about the chaos in your own office. Deadlines are stacking up.

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Starting point is 00:24:55 Listeners of this show get a $75 sponsored job credit to give your post a premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast. Support the show by letting them know you heard about them here. Indeed.com slash podcast. terms and conditions apply need to hire this is a job for indeed sponsored jobs don't forget to help us out let this train keep on rolling on the tracks give us that thumbs up give us a like don't forget to throw a comment in and subscribe if you're watching us on youtube from the very beginning of all of this conversation we've said here on lockdown patriots that mike frable is a gigantic factor in pulling the trigger on this type of deal and that remains the case today thanks for checking out The Lockdown Podcast Network, now the number one sports podcast network. Before I get to Mike Vrable, a couple of things. First, a couple comments. Lloyd Scrolls 48, 42, love the haters, reminds me of the good old days.

Starting point is 00:25:55 We are so back. People will now tell you that AJ Brown is not a good receiver at all. CNC PhD, he's better than anything we have right now and I've had in the last three years. I agree. I don't think it's necessarily close. Don't think it's close. All right, quick note before we get back to the AJ Brown talk and Mike Vrable, Julian Hill, tight end, big piece to the offseason puzzle.

Starting point is 00:26:20 As part of this move to get A.J. Brown on the 90-man roster, the Patriots placed Julian Hill on the IR. That does not mean that Julian Hill is going to miss the season. As Phil Perry pointed out on Twitter, with players placed on IR prior to the start of the season, teams can designate two to return when the roster is cut down to If not given that designation, the players season is over. So let's see what happens as camp rolls along and maybe we'll get more information on Julian Hill. But Julian Hill going on the IR today could be more of a paper move than anything else.

Starting point is 00:26:58 We'll keep an eye on that. I would have not been okay. I would not have been as okay with this trade if it weren't for Mike Vrable being in New England. Mike Vrable is such a significant critical piece to this puzzle. It ain't even funny. Mike Vrable is so important. Vrable understands A.J. Brown. And I think Mike Vrable is the best head coach in the league to be able to get the most out of A.J. Brown.

Starting point is 00:27:32 He knows how he ticks. He knows what gets him motivated. He knows how to keep him engaged. and embracing the team and all of that stuff. Mike Vrable's been there. He's done that with A.J. Brown. The trust between those two guys is so vital. It is so vital to have trust between the head coach and A.J. Brown.

Starting point is 00:27:55 We saw what happened as the relationship deteriorated in Philadelphia between A.J. Brown and J. Hertz in between A.J. Brown and Nick Siriani. I think Mike Vrable is going to be the perfect buffer. I think Mike Vrable understands who A.J. Brown is. The communication. Mike Vrable fantastic communicating with his players. I would expect the communication to be clean, so to speak, between Vrable and A.J. Brown. And Mike Vrable understands what Brown adds on and off the field. Nobody understands what.

Starting point is 00:28:32 what AJ Brown can do within this offense better than Mike Vrable. Nobody understands how AJ Brown's personality will mix with Drake May's personality. Nobody understands that better than Mike Vrable. Nobody understands the on-field strengths that match up between the new wide receiver one and the quarterback, the franchise, then Vrable. Nobody understands A.J. Brown's leadership quotient, his ability to help lead this team. Nobody understands that better than Vrable. And when we look at the knee, when we look at the knee condition, yes, it's a concern. It is a concern. But Mike Vrable has extensive knowledge about the knee. He has had an eye on A.J. Brown's knee in his physical conditioning since the 2000. 2019 draft. Mike Vrable's been looking at

Starting point is 00:29:32 doctor's notes and medical updates and filings of A.J. Brown for the past seven, eight years. If there's anybody in the league that knows the condition of A.J. Brown's knee and understands how to manage A.J. Brown,

Starting point is 00:29:48 it is going to be this head coach. There is nobody. And I mean nobody. I would trust more to understand the team element, so to speak, than Vrable. And there is nobody. There is nobody that I would trust more to understand and have a realistic evaluation of

Starting point is 00:30:11 this player than Vrable. And to me, Mike Vrable makes this move much more likely to work than if Brown went to any other team in the NFL because of the history, because of the knowledge, because of the relationship. It just makes so much sense. If a team is going to swing on this guy, the Patriots have made sense from the very beginning. That wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots.

Starting point is 00:30:43 Thank you for making us your first listen. And for being an everydayer reach out to me on Twitter at Nick C Radio. And don't forget to throw a comment in on the YouTube channel. Hit that like button and subscribe. If you never miss an episode, the Everydayer Club is built for you. Get Lockdown Patriots ad free plus members only Discord access. and more, head to lockdown patriots.supercast.com or check the link in the show notes to learn even more.

Starting point is 00:31:05 Have a great day. A.J. Brown is a Patriot. We will see you next time.

Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - BREAKING: A.J. Brown TRADED to the New England Patriots!!!

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