The offseason's biggest receiver trade just turned into New England's biggest headache. The Patriots announced Friday that A.J. Brown is headed to injured reserve with a high ankle sprain, ending his debut season in New England after barely one half of football.

Brown went down in the third quarter of Wednesday night's 13-10 season-opening loss to the Seattle Seahawks, a Super Bowl rematch New England let slip away after his exit. He finished with just three catches for 26 yards on four targets before limping to the sideline, and the Patriots' passing attack unraveled without him — quarterback Drake Maye threw three fourth-quarter interceptions as New England blew a lead late.

Under NFL rules, a trip to injured reserve means Brown is out a minimum of four games. That wipes out matchups against the Steelers, Jaguars, Bills and Raiders, with a Week 6 date against the Jets the earliest he can return. ESPN's Adam Schefter first reported the move Friday afternoon, and it was later confirmed through official channels.

A costly price tag, a short runway

The injury stings even more given what New England gave up to get Brown. The Patriots acquired the star receiver in an offseason blockbuster trade with Philadelphia, sending a 2028 first-round pick and a 2027 fifth-rounder to the Eagles in the deal. He was brought in specifically to be Maye's top target as the franchise builds around its young quarterback, and instead his New England tenure is now on pause before it really started.

PATRIOTS TRADED TWO DRAFT PICKS FOR A RECEIVER WHO PLAYED HALF A GAME BEFORE HITTING INJURED RESERVE.

With Brown sidelined, New England's receiving corps now leans on Romeo Doubs, Mack Hollins, DeMario Douglas, Kyle Williams and Efton Chism — a considerably thinner group after the team also shipped wideout Kayshon Boutte to Houston earlier this offseason.

The Patriots didn't stand pat elsewhere on the roster, either. Within the same news cycle, New England moved to sign veteran defensive tackle DaQuan Jones to a one-year deal worth up to $6 million, according to NBC Sports' reporting on the transaction. Jones, 34, spent last season with the Buffalo Bills and previously played for head coach Mike Vrabel in Tennessee from 2017 to 2020, giving New England a familiar, if graying, body to plug into the interior of its defensive line.

For a Patriots team that opened the year with Super Bowl aspirations and a rebuilt receiving room, the timing could hardly be worse. New England now heads into a stretch of four games without its headline offseason acquisition, leaning on Maye to develop chemistry with a patchwork receiving corps while the front office bets that Brown's absence is measured in weeks, not months.