​Well, Patriots haters had a good few years. New England owner Robert Kraft was quickly proven correct in jettisoning first-year coach Jerod Mayo for Mike Vrabel. The Patriots won 14 games, Drake Maye finished second in MVP voting, and they outlasted the AFC gauntlet of choking young quarterbacks and, somehow, Jarrett Stidham en route to yet another Super Bowl. Please don’t ask what happened in the Super Bowl — they’re still working on getting Josh McDaniels out of those chains Mike MacDonald threw on him.A pair of major stories have defined the Patriots offseason. One of them, their everlasting pursuit of A.J. Brown that finally resolved in the affirmative after June 1, makes them a much better football team on the field. The other one, Vrabel’s affair with former The Athletic reporter Dianna Russini, is nothing but a red herring from a football perspective. (Well, probably, because a new video of them seems to drop every week.)AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWhere does it leave the Patriots? Well, they look like a good bet to be a playoff team again. And from there, as they can tell you last year, anything can happen.Denver Broncos v Las Vegas Raiders – NFL 20252026 Rotoworld Fantasy Football Team Previews HubGet ready for 2026 fantasy football drafts with in-depth previews for all 32 teams throughout the summer. Rotoworld Staff,Points per game: 28.8 (2nd)Total yards per game: 379.4 (3rd)Plays per game: 61.4 (18th)Dropbacks per game: 38.3 (18th)Dropback EPA per play: 0.31 (1st)Designed rush attempts per game: 26.1 (15th)Rush EPA per play: -0.09 (25th)If you look at the fact that Brown is coming off the worst year of his Philadelphia career, he only cost a 2028 first-round pick, and he’s entering his age-29 season on a new team, it’s easy to create a compelling case to fade him. Let’s poke some holes in that: He was available this cheaply because teams don’t love the medicals on his knee. It was the same reason that then-Titans GM Jon Robinson didn’t extend him before Brown was traded to the Eagles in a move that, as far as we can tell, ended the entire Titans franchise.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementBrown’s knee is worth keeping in mind — he has missed six games over the past two seasons — but I think it’s more of a note for dynasty leaguers. His knee is healthy as far as things stand today.I’d be more worried about the new team if not for the fact that a) Maye is the quarterback here and b) Vrabel already coached Brown and knows exactly how to maximize his value. Brown is a YAC monster with the ball in his hands, and as long as you can deliver it to him over the middle, he’s going to generate first downs. For whatever reason (*cough*Kevin Patullo*cough*) the Eagles seemed unable to generate that kind of play last year. Brown had just 52 targets on in-breaking routes and was invisible on play-action passes.I think his current ADP of around mid-third round is fair. He doesn’t have a conclusive case to go ahead of any of the