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When is A.J. Brown coming back? Will A.J. Brown play again this season? Read about A.J. Brown's return date and injury updates for 2026.
New England Patriots wide receiver A.J. Brown (ankle) is dearly missed and sorely needed by his new team -- last week's game against the Jacksonville Jaguars resulted in an abject blowout loss. Brown's presence may not have changed the outcome, but it would have likely given the offense more juice.
The Patriots now have two awful showings on offense. Week 2 against the Pittsburgh Steelers wasn't bad, but the first and third games were miserable for Patriots quarterback Drake Maye -- Brown missed most of that playing time, and Maye turned the ball over six times in that span.
The results have been pretty shocking for an offense led by a MVP frontrunner last season. Brown is one of the NFL's better receivers when he's healthy, but when will he return, and what's the latest on his injury?
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A.J. Brown Injury Update for Fantasy Football
Brown is still on injured reserve and still recovering from the high ankle sprain that knocked him out of his Week 1 contest. The injury was just bad luck -- a defender fell on the side of his leg while he was trying to make a catch, pinning his foot to the ground and twisting it at an extreme angle.
High ankle sprains take more time to recover from because they involve damage to the syndesmotic ligaments, which hold the shin bones together. Without proper recovery time, they wouldn't return to full strength, which could lead to re-sprains and potentially worse injuries.
Looked like an ankle/lower leg injury for A.J. Brown. pic.twitter.com/A9kB53BpTQ
— Zack Cox (@zm_cox) September 10, 2026
You can see the mechanism of the injury above -- the foot is twisted at an extreme angle outwards. As far as we know, he didn't suffer an ankle fracture, which would have led him to be out for longer. And he was spotted walking in the team's locker room recently, so that's a good thing.
He's not eligible to return to play until Week 6. The initial signaling was that this would be a four- to six-week injury, so he'll likely be coming back soon.
A.J. Brown Fantasy Football Outlook
Most players struggle to return to their previous level of production after returning from high ankle sprain injuries. Brown should thus have lower production than he could have had, but it's hard to say how it will compare to what it was last season. Brown was often not a part of the Philadelphia Eagles offensive game plan last year.
This is more likely an aberration, as former Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo ran a poorly developed scheme. He didn't use much pre-snap motion and his route combinations were often baffling.
HURTS TO BROWN ON 4TH DOWN.
PHIvsMIN on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/BzAufHyrX8
— NFL (@NFL) October 19, 2025
Brown's big plays often came when he and quarterback Jalen Hurts improvised and ran the scramble drill, as you can see in the clip above. This season, the Patriots likely had plans to actually use Brown over the middle of the field, where he can use his athleticism to beat linebackers to make catches and elude them after the catch.
The Patriots offense has been miserable, though. Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels has made a career out of riding the coattails of the best quarterback of all time, Tom Brady, and last season they had the easiest schedule in the NFL. That's not so this year.
Brown should be a low-end WR1 by the time he's recovered from his ankle sprain. He'll be in an offense that intends to use him heavily, but his long injury history, Maye's struggles, and the poor state of New England's offense are barriers to his potential to be a high-end WR1.
For now, Mack Hollins, Hunter Henry, and Romeo Doubs are expected to lead the New England passing attack.
Who Should I Start Tool
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Week 4 Player Decisions. Today's focus is on specific players: Romeo Doubs, Mack Hollins, Hunter Henry. These are some of the most common searches for fantasy football lineups in Week 4.
Using The Tool. This is a simple tool but very powerful. The first step is to enter the player names that you want to compare. In the first box, search for the first player name. In the second box, search for the second player name. Compare up to four NFL players at once, and then click the Who To Start? button to see who the recommended starts are based on weekly fantasy football matchups.
Improvements For Who Should I Start? You may have noticed that our 'Who Should I Start?' tool has gotten an overhaul. We've added lots of great features for you to give you as much information as possible to win your fantasy football matchups each week. You'll see NFL player tiles with headshots and bye weeks, stats, projections, strength of schedule, player news, and enhanced search results with data to compare with a slick new interface. We hope you enjoy!
How It Works. Each week, our RotoBaller staff puts together their weekly fantasy football rankings and projections based on their research. That information is the core data that is powering the decision-making in this tool. When you search for player names, you will only see those players who are ranked. If someone is out for the week, they will not appear in the search results.
Scoring Formats. Fantasy football managers play in various types of leagues, and this tool allows you to choose whether it's PPR scoring, Half-PPR scoring, or Standard (Non-PPR) scoring. The second thing you want to do is select the scoring format. There are three small radio buttons (small circle), so click on the scoring format you prefer. The results may vary based on the scoring format you select.
Popular Week 4 Searches. Curious to see some tough lineup decisions for Week 4 (2026)? Below you will find a list of some popular Who Should I Start? searches that RotoBaller readers are looking at this week. Click any of the links to see the result and recommendation.
Popular Week 4 Searches - Start/Sit Player Comparisons
Below are some popular searches and comparisons from our Who To Start tool for Week 4 for Romeo Doubs, Mack Hollins, Hunter Henry:
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