Can Anything Dampen Chris Brockman’s Giddiness over the Pats’ AJ Brown Trade?

The Myles Garrett trade ate up most of the show, but it could not crowd out the other thing Chris Brockman had been waiting on since October. A.J. Brown is a Patriot, and Brockman, New England's resident superfan on the desk, was somewhere past giddy.

The substance came from Mike Vrabel, now the reigning coach of the year in New England, who spoke about reuniting with Brown. It carried extra weight because of a clip the show has played for years. Back in April 2022, with Vrabel then coaching the Titans and Brown trade rumors swirling, he told the program, "As long as I'm the head coach, I would want to have A.J. Brown on my football team." Tennessee traded him to Philadelphia days later anyway. The general manager who made that deal is gone, Vrabel eventually left Tennessee, and now the two are together again in New England.

Vrabel kept his praise grounded. Brown loves football, cares about his team, and does not have to prove anything to anybody, the coach said. He just has to practice, know the job and play to an identity, which Vrabel is confident he will do.

The coach also confirmed the part that delights New England. Brown's Patriots fandom is real and old. Vrabel recalled Brown showing him childhood photos, and remembered drafting him in Tennessee only to hear the kid say he wished the Patriots had taken him.

Brown told the same story to Maria Taylor from inside a full Patriots man cave, where the centerpiece is a team rug he bought off Amazon years ago and kept even while starring for the Eagles. "Some things just never change," Brown said. "This is my team since I was a kid."

That was all the runway Brockman needed. He reminded everyone he had predicted Brown would lead the league in yards, then upped it to 2,000 yards and a run at Randy Moss's touchdown record, declaring the Patriots Super Bowl-bound.

So the rest of the desk tried to bring him back to earth, and the test was cruel. On the same day Brown arrived, David Ortiz was at his charity golf tournament talking about Red Sox owner John Henry being worried about a last-place team. Rich read the Big Papi quotes aloud, line by line, about how hard it is to stay on top and how some people just do not understand.

Brockman, a bigger Red Sox fan than anything, refused to take the bait, answering every jab with another A.J. Brown highlight from OTAs. Even an actual meteor that streaked over Boston that weekend could not dent him. As Rich, the resident Yankee fan, noted, Brockman roots for the meteor when his teams play. This time the meteor showed up, and he did not care. A.J. Brown was a Patriot.