A.J. Brown Reveals He 'Hated' Mike Vrabel, as Former Patriots Try to Recruit Him

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A.J. Brown was a guest on the latest Dudes on Dudes podcast hosted by Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski. Brown, coming off a tumultuous season with the Eagles, will likely find himself in more trade rumors this offseason. To help add some early fuel to that fire, Brown winked when Edelman said, "We're all Patriots." And then he revealed that he didn't always enjoy his time playing for Mike Vrabel while both were with the Titans.
Brown hated the fact that Vrabel would hold players accountable and call on them in meetings to make sure they understood the game plan.
"Vrabe is the type of coach, he's gonna call on you in the meetings," said Brown. "He's gonna make sure that you're staying engaged and he's going to go over the keys to victory of the week and you better know them, like, to the back of your hand. I used to write in my notebook, cuz at the time I didn't really like Vrabe. I admit that, he knows that. So I used to write in my notebook, I hate Vrabe, I hate Vrabe. I hate Vrabe. But I was doing that to pretend like I was taking notes to look like I was engaged."
AJ Brown on Mike Vrabel.
— Savage (@SavageSports_) February 19, 2026
🎥: @DudesOnDudesPod
😉
pic.twitter.com/XAk9au4bur
The Titans traded Brown to the Philadelphia during the 2022 NFL Draft. The Eagles won the Super Bowl three seasons later, but neither Brown nor the team ever seemed to enjoy it. The '25 season was full of cryptic social media posts, miscommunication and trade speculation. He has three years remaining on his current contract, but there's an out after next season. This is the NFL, however, so who knows where Brown will be by the start of the season or when or how his time in Philadelphia will end.
After a successful season for the Patriots, it's unclear whether Vrabel would even want a reunion with a player who hated him and then went to another team where he was miserable despite even more on-field success.
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Stephen Douglas is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in media since 2008 and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Douglas spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and previously wrote for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.
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