AJ Brown's Lower Body is Sounding the Alarms in New England

There are injury updates, and then there are injury updates that make you wonder if a player's entire lower half is staging a strike. According to NFL insider Ian Rapoport, Patriots wide receiver AJ Brown missed Thursday's practice because a knee issue suddenly flared up.

This wouldn't be full-blown panic territory if it were just a sore knee. But Brown was already on Wednesday's injury report with an ankle problem. Now he has a bad ankle and a bad knee, which is objectively not the preferred combination for a guy whose entire job involves running extremely fast and stopping on a dime.

"Ian Rapoport noted Brown's status for Sunday is 'up in the air.'"

Rapoport noted that Brown's status for Sunday is officially up in the air. For a New England Patriots offense trying to bounce back from a frustrating 30-24 loss to the Chicago Bears last week, losing their alpha receiver is the absolute last thing they need.

When a star player starts collecting lower-body injuries like loyalty points at a physical therapy clinic, the betting markets take immediate notice. Player prop lines for the Patriots' passing game are going to be frozen solid until we get some clarity, and the overall game total will likely take a hit if Brown is officially ruled out.

Fantasy managers and bettors are in the exact same boat right now. You cannot confidently back a receiver who might be operating on one good leg, assuming he even has one fully functional leg left at this point in the week.

The real tell will be Friday's practice report. If Brown is nowhere to be found when the media portion opens, it is probably time to start making backup plans for Sunday.