Barring injury or any of the hundreds of calamities that have been known to derail professional sports careers, the acquisition of veteran receiver A.J. Brown is going to make the New England Patriots a whole lot more fun in 2026.
It might even make them a better team. That is, if you choose to look past the gazillions of stories you’ve read about how the tailwind of an easy schedule aided New England’s 14-3 record from 2025.
If you’re looking for pure X’s and O’s and a breakdown of what Brown’s presence means for the Pats’ receiving depth chart, Chad Graff will have plenty of that. However, as advertised, we’re here to discuss fun … as in how much fun it’ll be to watch what happens when Brown teams up with Drake Maye, New England’s third-year, MVP-caliber, you-ain’t-seen-nothin’-yet quarterback.
There’s a facet to sports that I like to call the entertainment within the entertainment. By way of example, it’s been hugely entertaining over the years to watch the Boston Red Sox play the New York Yankees. Still, there was entertainment within the entertainment when the likes of Roger Clemens and Pedro Martinez were on the hill. Or these days, a healthy Garrett Crochet.
A Boston Celtics game is baseline entertainment, but over the years, the entertainment within the entertainment has been Larry Bird-Kevin McHale-Robert Parish and Paul Pierce-Ray Allen-Kevin Garnett and, recently, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
A great quarterback-receiver tandem has always been splendid entertainment. Crushing hits, cloud-of-smoke rushes and larger-than-life coaches like Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick and Andy Reid are all kinds of fun, sure. Still, the edge-of-your-seat anticipation of a talented quarterback connecting with his talented, go-to receiver is next level.
I’ll get to some of my favorite quarterback-receiver tandems in a moment, but first, this isn’t a knock at the Patriots’ receiving corps from 2025. It was good, like most everything about the 2025 Patriots. Or better than most of us had expected entering the season.
Veteran Stefon Diggs caught 85 passes for 1,103 yards and four touchdowns. He has had better seasons with the Minnesota Vikings and Buffalo Bills, but let’s not quibble. Diggs was fine. The ACL injury he suffered while playing for the Houston Texans in 2024 is no longer a talking point.
True, Brown, who turns 29 in June, has logged seven grueling NFL seasons and has knees that require TLC. But he plays, and if he can deliver in 2026 the way he did for the Eagles in 2025, his name will often be paired with the name of New England’s quarterback. As in “Maye to Brown.” If the Patriots’ radio play-by-play tandem of bookish Bob Socci and broey Scott Zolak say it with great frequency in 2026, that’ll be entertainment within the entertainment.
The sainted Tom Brady had a busload of go-to receivers over the years. Rob Gronkowski tops the list on the entertainment-within-the-entertainment meter, considering that 90 of Gronk’s 92 career touchdown receptions were on passes thrown by Brady. Plus, Brady-to-Gronkowski was downright vaudevillian in its beyond-the-game popularity, with the two later taking the act to Tampa Bay for fun and profit.
However, when it comes to favorite Patriots quarterback-receiver tandems in the 21st century, I’ll take Brady-to-Randy Moss any day. For this discussion, it’s just the 2007 season I’m talking about, and that’s taking into consideration it didn’t end with the Patriots winning the Super Bowl. But so wonderfully did Brady and Moss work together in ’07 that it had the feel of two local high school football stars walking home from practice one fine afternoon and deciding to stop and play a quick pickup game with a collection of eager, grateful fourth-graders.
In other words, it often seemed like Brady and Moss were toying with their competition that year, with the former setting a single-season record for most passing TDs (50) and the latter setting a single-season record for most receiving scores (23).
This isn’t to suggest that “Maye to Brown” will be “Brady to Moss” or “Brady to Gronk.” That’s not the point. However, almost every quarterback in Patriots history has had his go-to guy, and by now it’s clear that Maye will be around for a while. It’s time for him to have a go-to guy of his own. It’ll be great for Maye, and — here comes that word again — fun for Patriots fans.
Drake Maye now has a No. 1 receiver who can be his partner in touchdowns. (Billie Weiss / Getty Images)
Growing up in Boston, the first time I recall being truly interested in a quarterback-receiver tandem was when Heisman Trophy-winning QB Jim Plunkett and his old Stanford buddy, Randy Vataha, burst upon the New England scene in 1971, just in time for the opening of Schaefer Stadium.
Vataha caught nine touchdown passes in ’71, all on balls thrown by Plunkett. Raise your hand if you remember Dec. 19, 1971, Patriots versus Baltimore Colts at Memorial Stadium, last game of the season, late fourth quarter, when Plunkett connected with a wide-open Vataha for an 88-yard touchdown in a stunning 21-17 victory.
As if to make my point, Patriots left tackle Mike Montler had this to say after the game: “Sometimes you forget football is meant to be fun — until a day like today.”
And then came Steve Grogan, throwing passes to Stanley Morgan. Boston sports fans in the 1970s had Bobby Orr and the Big Bad Bruins, two NBA titles from the John Havlicek-Dave Cowens Celtics, “Candlepins for Cash,” Carlton Fisk denting the left-field foul pole, and, beginning in 1977, “Grogan to Morgan.” A pair of solid, determined pros, they combined on 224 pass completions. Talk about entertainment within the entertainment: Morgan averaged 19.2 yards per reception in his career.
While it’s true that New Englanders are taught to hate all things Raiders for reasons not worth getting into here, it’s hard not to respect Ken Stabler-to-Fred Biletnikoff, and I’d be remiss not to mention them. They were clutch. They delivered. The very utterance of the pairing — Stabler to Biletnikoff — has a nice rat-a-tat-tat sound to it. Had they been around in the 1930s, Cole Porter would have found a way to work “Stabler to Biletnikoff” into “You’re the Top.” Perhaps right after “… the nimble tread of the feet of Fred Astaire.”
It’s asking a lot for “Maye to Brown” to be as good as “Brady to Moss,” or “Grogan to Morgan,” and so on. But Brown has a history with Patriots coach Mike Vrabel. And, if it helps any, receiver Romeo Doubs, who in March signed a four-year deal with New England, is already on record as saying he’d “love” to have Brown as a teammate.
Who knows, maybe the Patriots will have two players with 1,000 receiving yards this season.
Now that would be entertaining.
