Radio host Chris Curtis made the case on Friday that the New England Patriots’ trade for A.J. Brown could prove a worse move than the Antonio Brown signing. He also doubted A.J. Brown would get back on the field this season, with his knee keeping him out of practice ahead of Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers.

Brown arrived from the Philadelphia Eagles in June with his knee already a known concern. The 29-year-old has appeared in only three of New England’s eight games. A flare-up in that same knee kept him out of last week’s 24-19 win at Miami.

Chris Curtis Points to the Price Paid and A.J. Brown’s Knee

Curtis shared the take on Friday’s episode of “The Greg Hill Show”, in a segment built around whether Brown will play again this season, and he set it up this way: “This may sound really hot as a take, but I think it’s factual. Given what we now know, one could make the argument that the A.J. Brown trade and acquisition is dumber and more damaging,” with the Antonio Brown signing as his yardstick.

From there, he pointed to what New England paid and what it has gotten back: “You traded a first-round pick and a fifth-round pick for A.J. Brown. He has zero touchdowns… and I don’t believe you will see him the rest of this season.”

New England sent a 2028 first-round pick and a 2027 fifth-round pick to the Eagles in the June deal. In his three games since, Brown has nine catches for 101 yards and no touchdowns.

Curtis traced it back to the knee, saying Brown “has a degenerative knee condition that scared away the entirety of the NFL.”

One part of Curtis’ criticism was incorrect: Brown has recorded six receiving first downs this season, according to the Patriots, though he has yet to score a touchdown.

However, NFL insider Adam Schefter’s reporting did not support Curtis’ claim that Brown’s knee scared away the entire league. On ESPN’s “Get Up,” he said: “One of the reasons that I believe there wasn’t more interest [in Brown] was there were some teams that had some questions about his knee.”

Schefter said there had been “advanced discussions for a trade with the Los Angeles Rams that was at one point close to being completed,” and added, “I think the Rams had some concerns about his knee. Well, the concerns that other teams have had have now manifested themselves in New England this season.”

Those concerns did not stop New England. Patriots executive Eliot Wolf addressed the knee in June, after the trade, telling Yahoo Sports’ Jori Epstein: “It’s a factor, but we examined him… He’s got a knee that has some wear and tear that we were aware of. Our training staff and medical staff signed off on it.”

Brown, who ranked 12th on PFN’s WR Impact Metric last season, did not practice Wednesday or Thursday, and Schefter’s concern about the knee goes well past Sunday: “It flared up. …I know it says ankle and knee [on New England’s injury report], but it’s the knee. The knee held him out last week, and the knee is threatening to hold him out this week. It’s a knee that I think raises some concerns as to how long he’s gonna keep playing here in New England, and producing at a high level.”

Another absence on Sunday against the Packers at Gillette Stadium would be the sixth game Brown has missed, leaving him with three appearances in New England’s first nine.