The New England Patriots did not trade for A.J. Brown because Mike Vrabel needed convincing. If anything, the Patriots head coach had spent years building the case himself.

Speaking for the first time since New England’s blockbuster move for the erstwhile Philadelphia Eagles receiver, Vrabel repeatedly turned to the same theme: Brown’s talent is obvious, but the person behind the production was just as important in the Patriots’ decision-making.

“I think [it’s about] just trying to improve our football team every possible way [and] give our offense multiple weapons to build on what we did last year,” Vrabel said during his regular OTA media availability. “I think [it’s] having experience with the person, being able to add an accomplished NFL football player, receiver, a premium player at his position, but somebody that we also feel strongly about as a person, a competitor and a team-mate. I appreciate Eliot [Wolf] for being able to work and get that done.”

The trade brings Brown back together with the coach who drafted him during their time with the Tennessee Titans, and it appears that familiarity also played a significant role in New England’s willingness to make one of the biggest moves of the offseason.

Brown arrives in Foxborough with a reputation as one of the NFL’s premier wide receivers, having surpassed 1,000 receiving yards in five consecutive seasons and helped the Eagles reach two Super Bowls. Yet his final years in Philadelphia were also accompanied by regular scrutiny over his sideline demeanour, public frustrations and relationships within the organisation — and Vrabel was careful not to criticise Brown’s former team or dismiss those concerns outright.

“I can’t say that there’s not going to be things that come up with A.J., or with any single player,” the head coach admitted. “I think this is a competitive game, highly competitive. Players want to win, players want to do everything they can to help their team. They want to make sure that people are on the right page. I don’t get into a lot of that.”

Instead, Vrabel framed those moments as part of life inside a competitive NFL locker room.

“What’s most important is that those things don’t carry into the locker room, that they get handled, and you see that all the time on the sidelines,” he continued. “We want to have conversations in the meeting room, we want to have conversations at practice. Sometimes those conversations are animated, but it’s all in the sake of trying to get on the same page and get right. Again, I don’t know what happened, and I’m not trying to figure out what happened, in Philadelphia. I’m trying to focus on what’s going to happen here and trying to get him acclimated to what we do and how we do it.”

The comments offered perhaps the clearest indication yet that New England views Brown’s competitive nature as a feature rather than a flaw, but Vrabel also pushed back against any suggestion that Brown has something left to prove.

“That he loves football, that he cares about his team,” Vrabel said when asked what Patriots fans and team-mates would learn about the receiver. “I think he is knowledgeable. And I think that he doesn’t have to prove anything to anybody. Nobody does. They have to go out there and practice. They have to know what to do. They have to play to a certain identity, do their job, and focus on that.”

Vrabel’s confidence extends beyond personality traits and, when asked what separates Brown from other elite receivers, the Patriots coach highlighted not just the physical gifts that have made him a perennial Pro Bowler, but the technical development he has witnessed since Brown entered the league in 2019.

“I think he loves football,” he repeated. “I think he has a physical skill set, he’s got great body control, he’s strong at the catch point. But I also think, as he’s grown as a player and as a receiver, he knows the nuances of releases versus press, playing versus bracketed coverages or zone coverages.”

There was also a lighter moment when Vrabel was reminded of Brown’s long-standing affection for the Patriots, a team he recently revealed that he supported growing up during the Tom Brady era — as well as throughout his time in Tennessee and Philadelphia.

“I think I knew when we drafted him, he was like, ‘I wished the Patriots drafted me,'” Vrabel recalled. “And I said, ‘That didn’t happen. The Titans drafted you’.”

Seven years later, Brown finally gets his wish, while the Patriots are betting that the coach who helped launch Brown’s NFL career still understands exactly what makes him tick.