Mike Vrabel on A.J. Brown trade possibility: ‘Anything that we can continue to do to strengthen the roster’

PHOENIX — Howie Roseman may have altered his approach to answering questions about A.J. Brown at the annual league meeting, but Mike Vrabel has not.

At his news conference Tuesday, the New England Patriots coach didn’t rule out any possibilities regarding a trade for Brown. Vrabel echoed the comments he gave to New England-area reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine last month when he said that the team would do anything it could to bolster its personnel in response to a question about attempting to acquire the Eagles receiver.

“We’ve talked about this since last January,” Vrabel said Tuesday. “We’re going to try to do everything we can to strengthen our roster, through the draft, through free agency, multiple ways of player acquisition. So anything that we can continue to do to strengthen the roster, we’re going to try to do.”

Roughly three weeks after the start of the new league year, Brown’s future in Philadelphia remains uncertain. Earlier in the offseason, Roseman didn’t explicitly rule out trading Brown. On Sunday, Roseman was less elaborate in his responses about Brown, repeating some iteration of “A.J. Brown is a member of the Eagles” to multiple queries on the topic.

According to several reports this offseason, the Patriots have interest in adding Brown. The reigning AFC champions have made some tweaks at receiver by cutting Stefon Diggs and signing former Green Bay Packer Romeo Doubs to a four-year deal.

But the Patriots still have a need for a top receiver to compensate for the targets vacated by Diggs. Doubs, who turns 26 in April, projects better as a second or third receiver based on his past performance.

Vrabel didn’t express a sense of concern about redistributing Diggs’ targets, but he did stress the value of what the 32-year-old receiver did with those targets.

“We all appreciate what Stef did and being able to coach him,” Vrabel said. “But what has to happen is the efficiency in which he was able to catch the ball was impressive, whether that’s [Drake Maye’s] accuracy, ball location, or Stef’s ability to catch it. That’s something that we’ll have to recreate.”

Few NFL coaches are more familiar with Brown and his skill set than Vrabel. Brown was a second-round pick of the Tennessee Titans in 2019, when Vrabel was the head coach. The pair spent three seasons together before Brown was traded to the Eagles in 2022.

Vrabel also seems to understand Brown’s quest for personal success while playing a team sport.

“We all understand in professional sports, players that are talented and get to this level have some sort of ego to them,” Vrabel said. “And there’s a balance. They have to have that edge. And so I think as a coaching staff and whatever that is, you have to balance that edge to make sure that that’s helping the team.

“Everybody wants to excel. What receiver doesn’t want to catch the ball? What pass rusher doesn’t want to sack the quarterback? What DB doesn’t want to intercept the ball? The running backs want to score touchdowns. That’s how this thing goes.”

As the Brown saga continues this offseason, June 1 could be a date to circle. The Eagles could spread his dead salary cap hit over two seasons in a trade after June 1, instead of eating it all in 2026 if they move him before that date.

If the Eagles trade Brown, what would they seek in return? Shortly after the start of the new league year, the Denver Broncos acquired Jaylen Waddle and a fourth-round pick from the Miami Dolphins in exchange for their 2026 first-round pick (No. 30) as well as third- and fourth-round selections, offering a glimpse into what Roseman could receive for Brown.

Regarding any potential trade this offseason, Vrabel didn’t express a preference between surrendering draft picks this year or in future years.

“However you can come to an agreement with another team, I’ve never really looked at it as this year, next year, how good the draft is in three years,” Vrabel said. “Just try to come to an agreement. If you make a trade, you just want to try to come to an agreement that both teams feel like they’re getting something that everybody’s happy [with].”

This time last year, the Tush Push was on the brink of a ban. But the Packers’ proposed rule change failed to garner the support among the owners it needed to pass and it hasn’t come under attack since.

The league’s waning interest in banning the play correlates with the Eagles’ struggles at executing it in 2025. According to tushpush.fyi, Jalen Hurts converted on 74.1% of his attempts, well under the 82.3% league average.

No team was more successful at running the Tush Push last season than the Buffalo Bills. Josh Allen converted on 92.3% of his attempts. Hurts led the league with 27 attempts and Allen trailed him by one.

But the Bills were among the teams that voted to ban the play last year. Former Bills head coach Sean McDermott voiced his concern over the health and safety of the players at the time, even though he acknowledged that there wasn’t significant data that indicated any risks.

Joe Brady, the new Bills head coach and former offensive coordinator, continued to run the play to great success regardless.

“As the [former] offensive coordinator, if [former] Coach McDermott was like, ‘Hey, look, I don’t want us doing it,’ we wouldn’t,” Brady said. “And to his credit, it was like, ‘Hey, yes, I might be against it, but there’s a lot of rules that sometimes as coaches, as personnel, we might not vote for, but once the rule is, hey, this is what it is, we want to make sure as an offense, defense, special teams, as a team that we’re doing whatever we’re capable of.’

”But once it got to that point, he was like, if the rule is in, and you feel like it’s [in] the best interest to help us win, he was for it."

Brady said he didn’t know why there wasn’t a renewed attempt to ban it this year.

“Sometimes I’m surprised that when a rule [proposal] comes and it doesn’t [pass], do they make it to the next year?” Brady said. “Or they’re, as I’m learning in the league, is it just we’re, hey, we went all in, it didn’t go, and we’re going to keep it moving? The success that we have with it, I was fortunate that it was a part of our offense last year.”