MORSE: AJ Brown Trade Reactions, Onwenu's Restructure, and Hill on IR

Patriots Trade for AJ Brown

The long-awaited AJ Brown was consummated today around 4:00. The compensation was a 2028 1^st round pick and a 2027 5th round pick (lower of the Patriots or Chicago pick). Essentially, that is a 2028 1st where the Patriots should be in the lower tier of the draft and Garret Bradbury (5th Round pick acquired from Chicago). I would do that trade every day of the week. The trade is exactly what I thought it would be.

Brown is still an elite #1 alpha Wide Receiver. He has 4 consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. In 2025, he had 78 catches, 1003 yards, and 7 TDs. Bill Barnwell of ESPN cites their Next Gen stats of WRs, and Brown finished #6 last season. This advanced metric takes into consideration the amount of time he gets open, his ability to catch the ball, and Yards After Catch. In Brown’s career he finished 2^nd, 5^th, 7^th, 1^st, 2^nd, 1^st and 6^th. He has never been less than 7^th.

Field Yates pointed out that Brown has 18 TDs on passes of 20+ yards, the number one WR in the league. Brown’s PFF Grade was 83, 18/81 receivers, and his Pass Receiving was 85.9, 11/81. Bill Barnwell also points out that Brown does most of his damage between the numbers, utilizing his size (6’2”, 225 pounds) to bounce off DBs. He has great hands for those routes going through the middle. He is fantastic at back shoulder receptions and is a good blocking receiver.

Jan 4, 2026; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; Miami Dolphins tight end Julian Hill (89) looks on before the game against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images — **TE Julian Hill was placed on IR on Monday. (PHOTO: Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images)**

Julian Hill to IR

The corresponding move by the Patriots to open a spot for Brown was to move Free Agent TE Julian Hill to IR. This does not mean that Hill is lost for the season. Doug Kyed stated that a player put on IR at this point of the season is out for the year. I am curious what his injury is and how serious it is to put him on IR. This could be a significant blow because they were counting on Hill to upgrade their blocking in the run game.

Onewenu Restructures His Contract

According to “Patscap” Miguel Benzan, as reported by Mike Reiss, the Patriots have restructured Mike Onwenu’s contract by reducing it by around $7.5M this year. Patscap reports the team has $38M in cap space before the Onwenu restructure. Onwenu didn’t have any guaranteed money left on his contract. This contract guarantees some of it. Another possible explanation is that they don’t have that much space under Bob Kraft’s self-imposed Cap, which is considerably lower than what they are allowed to spend. Every three years, the team needs to spend cash to the 90% level of the cap. The Patriots spent last year. This isn’t anything new.

I wrote the same thing just before Free Agency. I actually think the Patriots have spent more money this year than I thought they would. This $7.5M reduction in spending is exactly the amount of money they owe Brown under the cap for 2025. Onwenu’s salary went down from $16M to a little less than $3M. He also got a $6M signing bonus. So, cash now rather than having to wait for week-by-week paychecks. The new Cap Space number reported by Patscap was $42,522,743 before the Brown trade.

Cutdown Date Changed

The NFL has moved the cutdown date to Sunday, Aug. 30th at 6 p.m. ET. This is different from the usual following Tuesday. Waiver claims will be due at 1 p.m. ET on Monday, Aug. 31. The Patriots play Opening Night on Wednesday, September 9^th.

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About Mark Morse

Merrimack Valley native and lifelong fan of the New England Patriots. My earliest memories of the Patriots were attending as a child with my dad, the off-season practice at Phillips Academy. I was at the Patriots game at Harvard Stadium in 1970 where Bob “Harpo” Gladieux was called out of the stands by the stadium announcer over the PA to play in the game. Analyzing the draft since ESPN first started to televise it in 1980 and former writer for the Lowell Sun Newspaper.

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