{"id":1000412,"date":"2026-09-14T08:24:35","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T08:24:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1000412\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T08:24:35","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T08:24:35","slug":"predicting-patriots-top-wr-during-a-j-browns-six-game-absence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1000412\/","title":{"rendered":"Predicting Patriots’ top WR during A.J. Brown’s six-game absence"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New England Patriots traded a 2028 first-round<\/a> NFL<\/a> draft pick for A.J. Brown to give Drake Maye a No. 1 target. Now they have to replace him for roughly six weeks after a much darker update landed Sunday, Sept. 13.<\/p>\n

Brown is expected to miss six weeks<\/a> with the high-ankle sprain he suffered in the season-opening 13-10 loss at Seattle, per NFL Network. It\u2019s a timeline that pushes his return past the Week 6 date when he first becomes eligible to come off injured reserve.<\/p>\n

MORE: Travis Hunter makes major two-way role shift for Jaguars-Browns in Week 1<\/a><\/p>\n

Mack Hollins takes over Brown\u2019s spot<\/p>\n

\"MackMack Hollins of the New England Patriots reacts while playing against the Las Vegas Raiders.<\/p>\n

Hollins slid into Brown\u2019s role the moment Brown limped to the medical tent, and he finished with a team-high 51 yards on four catches. The 32-year-old from Rockville, Md., played 18 of the first 32 snaps, more than any New England receiver besides Brown. Hollins turns 33 on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Last season he caught 46 of 65 targets for 550 yards and two touchdowns without a charged drop, and his average depth of target sat at 13.3 yards<\/a>. He\u2019s 6-foot-4, he blocks in the run game, and the coaching staff trusts him, so the snaps he took in Seattle should stay his.<\/p>\n

MORE: Fantasy football start \u2019em, sit \u2019em Week 1: Trust Bryce Young, avoid Kirk Cousins<\/a><\/p>\n

Can Romeo Doubs bounce back?<\/p>\n

\"NFL:New England Patriots wide receiver Romeo Doubs (87) walks to practice for training camp at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images via Reuters Connect (Reuters)<\/p>\n

Doubs signed a four-year, $68 million contract in March and then didn\u2019t catch a pass in his New England debut. He played 40 snaps, dropped a throw<\/a> that would have gained at least 25 yards and was the downfield target on Maye\u2019s first interception.<\/p>\n

But the former Nevada receiver produced 202 catches for 2,424 yards and 21 touchdowns across 59 games in Green Bay. He owned the mistakes after Week 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my jobs as a player is to make this team better, and I\u2019ll be better moving forward,\u201d Doubs said<\/a>, per ESPN.<\/p>\n

MORE: Fantasy football rankings for Week 1: Joe Burrow starts hot<\/a><\/p>\n

DeMario Douglas leads Patriots in targets<\/p>\n

\"NFL:Seattle Seahawks safety Rodney Thomas II (24) tackles New England Patriots wide receiver DeMario Douglas (3). Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images via Reuters Connect (Reuters)<\/p>\n

Put some respect on Douglas\u2019 name. He\u2019s the dark-horse candidate to lead the team in receiving.<\/p>\n

Douglas drew a team-high seven targets against Seattle and turned five catches into 20 yards. The 5-foot-8 Liberty product played only 288 offensive snaps last season, a 26.3% share, yet averaged a career-best 14.4 yards per catch on 31 receptions for 447 yards and three scores.<\/p>\n

With Brown out into late October, the slot becomes the safest place for Maye to go on early downs, so the volume should stay high even if the yardage stays short.<\/p>\n

MORE: Fantasy football start \u2019em, sit \u2019em Week 1: Bench Patrick Mahomes<\/a><\/p>\n

Why Kyle Williams could break out<\/p>\n

\"NFL:New England Patriots wide receiver Kyle Williams (18) catches a pass against Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Ambry Thomas (38) and runs for a touchdown. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images via Reuters Connect (Reuters)<\/p>\n

Williams played just 12 snaps in the opener and didn\u2019t catch a pass, which is the strangest part of New England\u2019s Week 1 plan. The 2025 third-round pick out of Washington State scored touchdowns of 69 and 45 yards this preseason<\/a> and hit more than 20 mph on the longer one.<\/p>\n

As a rookie, he caught 10 of 21 targets for 209 yards and three touchdowns, and all three scores came on explosive plays. <\/p>\n

\u201cI really know that Kyle is going to help us,\u201d Vrabel said during camp<\/a>, per Fox Sports. \u201cHis speed is going to help us. We\u2019re going to find ways to get him the ball, and it may be outside of just the normal installation plays.\u201d<\/p>\n

MORE: IDP fantasy football rankings at DL, LB, DB for NFL Week 1<\/a><\/p>\n

Efton Chism III joins the rotation<\/p>\n

\"NFL:New England Patriots wide receiver Efton Chism III (86) runs after making a catch against the Philadelphia Eagles during the first half at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images via Reuters Connect (Reuters)<\/p>\n

Chism was a healthy scratch 90 minutes before kickoff in Seattle as the sixth receiver on the roster. That changes now. The second-year slot man caught all four of his preseason targets<\/a> against Philadelphia for 45 yards, including a 24-yard pickup on third down.<\/p>\n

He appeared in eight games last season, caught three passes for 75 yards and worked mostly on special teams. Vrabel praised him during the preseason, saying it was good to see him come out and do some things.<\/p>\n

MORE: Fantasy football waiver wire Week 1: All-in with Daniel Jones<\/a><\/p>\n

Who leads the Patriots in receiving?<\/p>\n

\"NFL:New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10) spins a ball on his finger before a game against the Indianapolis Colts. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images via Reuters Connect (Reuters)<\/p>\n

Hollins might be the favorite to finish Brown\u2019s six-week absence as the team\u2019s leading receiver. He already holds the outside role. He ran more snaps than Doubs in the opener, and Maye went to him on fourth-and-9 in the closing minutes of a one-score game. <\/p>\n

My vote is for Douglas. He will probably catch more passes because of where he lines up, but Hollins gets the deeper targets and the sideline throws Brown was going to take. <\/p>\n

Doubs has the contract and the track record to pass them both, and Williams has the speed to steal a week with one long touchdown. Across a stretch that includes Pittsburgh, Jacksonville, Buffalo, Las Vegas, the New York Jets and Chicago, the veteran with the most snaps and the most trust with Maye is likely the one who ends up on top of the receiving chart.<\/p>\n

MORE: NFC power rankings for Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014\u00a0Enjoy free coverage of the top news & trending stories with The Big Lead Newsletter<\/a>\u00a0<\/a>\u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New England Patriots traded a 2028 first-round NFL draft pick for A.J. Brown to give Drake Maye…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1000413,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[8694,7354,19258,7,1056,9228,1167,249,2326,2094,6,208,3995],"class_list":["post-1000412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-england-patriots","tag-a-j-brown","tag-demario-douglas","tag-efton-chism-iii","tag-football","tag-kyle-williams","tag-mack-hollins","tag-new-england","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-newengland","tag-newenglandpatriots","tag-nfl","tag-patriots","tag-romeo-doubs"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117268438869849416","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1000412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1000412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1000412\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1000413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1000412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1000412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1000412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}