A.J. Brown, who had over 5,000 yards and made 2nd-team all-pro three times in four years with the Eagles, was knocked out of his first game as a Patriot with an injury Wednesday evening in Seattle.
Brown suffered an injury to his right leg or ankle when he landed awkwardly after getting hit by Seahawks cornerback Nehemiah Pritchett on an incomplete pass from Drake Maye early in the third quarter of the NFL season opener and Super Bowl rematch.
The Patriots had a 3rd-and-4 on their own 48-yard-line 90 seconds into the second half when Maye under-threw a pass to Brown, who got tangled up with Pritchett as he tried to field the ball near the ground.
Brown remained down on the turf while Patriots medical personnel came out to check on him. He was taken to the blue injury tent before walking under his own power to the locker room.
Although no details of the injury were announced by the Patriots, they did announce after Brown went inside for X-rays that he would not be returning to the game.
No word on how much time – if any – Brown will miss, but he did not look good limping off the field and to the locker room after the play.
Brown caught three passes for 26 yards before getting hurt. In his first game with the Eagles, he caught 10 passes for 155 yards in a win over the Lions at Ford Field on opening day 2022.
With Brown out, it was another former Eagles wide receiver, 2017 5th-round pick Mack Hollins, who led Patriots WRs with four catches for 51 yards.
The Seahawks, despite losing quarterback Sam Darnold with an injury on the fifth play of the game, won 13-10, clinching the win when Josh Jobe, who began his career as an undrafted free agent with the Eagles in 2022, picked off Maye at the Seahawks’ 3-yard-line with 26 seconds left. It was the third interception of the game for last year’s MVP runner-up and Maye’s intended receiver was Hollins.
After catching 339 passes for 5,034 yards and 32 touchdowns in four years with the Eagles, Brown was traded on June 1 to the Patriots in exchange for a 2028 1st-round pick and a 2027 5th-round pick.
Brown is the 10th-highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL with an average annual salary of $32 million from the extension the Eagles gave him in April of 2024.
As his relationship with Jalen Hurts fractured, Brown grew increasingly unhappy as an Eagle, and last year he let his frustration affect his play. He had his worst game as an Eagle in his final game, when he had three costly dropped passes in the wild-card loss to the 49ers at the Linc.
Brown, who turned 29 in June, only missed five games with injuries in four years with the Eagles. He missed the wild-card loss to Tampa in 2023 with a sprained knee, three games in 2024 with a hamstring injury, and one game last year with a hamstring. He missed six games in three years with the Titans.
Among active receivers, Brown ranks 16th with 8,029 yards and 13th with 56 touchdowns. He’s the 17th receiver in NFL history to surpass 8,000 yards in his first seven seasons.