A.J. Brown Hints He Wants to Play for Mike Vrabel and Be a Patriot

There is a thing called “coachspeak” or “playerspeak” in sports, which refers to the phenomenon of players and coaches spitting out predictable, inoffensive, and seemingly pre-written responses. Corporate answers. They don’t want the media and the public to know how they really feel. Well, Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown has little patience for that kind of thing.

Brown feels a lot of feelings. And when he feels a feeling, he’s gonna let the next person who asks him know about it. No matter if it’s media in the locker room or dudes on a podcast.

Brown recently made an appearance on the Dudes on Dudes Podcast hosted by former New England Patriots greats Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski. And of course, the conversation eventually shifted to current Patriots head coach and reigning NFL Coach of the Year Mike Vrabel.

Some may have already forgotten, but Vrabel coached Brown in Tennessee with the Titans for the latter’s first three seasons in the NFL from 2019-2021. While it seems he has softened on the hard-nosed coach, Brown admitted he didn’t like Vrabel back then.

“I used to write in my notebook—because at the time, I didn’t like Vrabel—I admit that he knows that. And so I used to write, ‘I hate Vrabe, I hate Vrabe, I hate Vrabe,’ right?” Brown admitted, before noting,

“But I was doing that to pretend like I was taking notes to look like I was engaged. But because he was so hard on me when I was a rookie, and I didn’t really understand it.”

Brown went on to say that he believed he was “humble already,” which meant Vrabel didn’t have to attempt to humble him even more. While that is hard to believe now, it is possible that Brown’s rise to stardom has contributed to his more outspoken nature since joining the Eagles. There were no public outbursts in Nashville—until the trade request, of course.

At one point in the podcast, Edelman also jokingly said to Brown, “Just remember, we’re all Patriots, you know that right?” Edelman was clearly doing a double-entendre: he meant all Americans are Patriotic, but also that all three players in the room could be Patriots. Understanding that double-meaning, Brown gave a wink that got a massive reaction from Edelman and Gronk.

Brown’s time in the City of Brotherly Love is likely coming to an end soon. He and his quarterback don’t get along, and the entire team seems fraught with drama. Meanwhile, his old coach, whom he’s come around on, just led a young team without a clear-cut WR1 to the Super Bowl.

“When I say he holds every single player accountable from top to bottom,” Brown said about Vrabel. “I don’t care who it is, that’s who he is. And it makes the team come together, because nobody’s bigger than the team, nobody’s bigger than the program, so you have to respect it.”

With that wink and the way he went on to praise Vrabel, this definitely didn’t feel like just any podcast appearance fir Brown. And it really can’t be denied that his fit with the New England Patriots makes a lot of sense.

The only question is, what’s the price?