The Patriots’ passing game has struggled early in the season as quarterback Drake Maye has thrown for an average of just 193 yards per game through two games. A big part of the reason for those struggles is that star WR AJ Brown went down with an ankle injury just a minute-and-a-half into the third quarter of New England’s Week 1 game against the Seahawks.
Below, we will dish out a Brown injury update and look at when he will potentially return to the Patriots’ lineup.
AJ Brown injury update: When will Patriots WR return?
Brown suffered a high ankle sprain in New England’s 13-10 loss to the Seahawks on September 9. The injury is not expected to require surgery, but it will keep Brown out of the Patriots’ lineup for a significant amount of time.
“There are some opportunities where you could maybe get [Brown] back in 4-6 weeks. There are situations where a broken ankle is actually better than a high ankle sprain,” former NFL WR Andrew Hawkins said on ESPN’s “Get Up!”. “I’ve broken my ankle, unfortunately, three times and I’ve also torn all the ligaments in it two times. That’s typically [the timeline for recovery].”
A decent and recent player comp for what Brown is dealing with right now is Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb. Lamb sustained a high ankle sprain in Week 3 of last season. He returned to the Dallas lineup just 28 days, exactly four weeks, later.
Of course, not all injuries are the same. There are different levels of severity and Brown’s injury appears to be on the more significant side, so just four weeks would be pushing it. Six weeks seems like a likely period of recovery for the three-time Pro Bowler.
Exactly four weeks from the time of the injury would be Wednesday, October 7. Therefore, the earliest we could see Brown back is Week 5 against the Raiders.
Six weeks from the time of the injury would be Wednesday, October 21. The Patriots’ first game after that date is Week 6 against the Jets.
New England’s bye week is Week 11 and Brown is expected to be back several weeks prior to their break.
Here is the look at the Patriots’ schedule around the time that the 29-year-old is expected to return.
- Week 5 Sunday, October 11: Raiders at Patriots
- Week 6 Sunday, October 18: Jets at Patriots
- Week 7 Thursday, October 22: Patriots at Bears
- Week 8 Sunday, November 1: Patriots at Dolphins
- Week 9 Sunday, November 8: Packers at Patriots
AJ Brown fantasy football stock and odds
Brown had a 2026 ADP of No. 24 overall at FantasyPros. He is still rostered in 97 percent of Yahoo fantasy football leagues despite the injury.
In a little over one half of play in a Patriots uniform, Brown was targeted 4 times by Maye and the WR ultimately finished with 3 catches for 26 yards against Seattle.
Brown’s season-long projected Over/Unders at Fanatics heading into the season were 1000.5 receiving yards and 6.5 TDs.
Brown has gone over 1,000 yards receiving in six of his seven seasons in the NFL. The one season in which he didn’t reach the milestone was 2021 when he played in just 13 games. He missed a chunk of time that season due to a chest injury.
Patriots odds
The Patriots had +2000 Super Bowl odds at Fanatics Sportsbook entering the season and are now +2200 after their 1-1 start to the season. New England is a +3 underdog at Jacksonville this week.
Mike Vrabel’s squad had a projected win total of 9.5 entering the 2026-27 NFL season. They currently have the same number at Fanatics, with juice on the Over.
The Pats are currently +210 to win the AFC East and are -210 to make the playoffs.
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