ThePhillySportsBlog

The Philadelphia Eagles need to trade AJ Brown.  Now.

The situation with Brown and the Eagles has reached the point of no return.  No matter what Brown says now, nothing can erase the fact that he requested a trade multiple times last season and his passive-aggressive behavior on social media and in interviews is a distraction that the team simply doesn’t need.

Maybe if Brown was still an elite receiver, his antics would be worth it.  But he’s no longer elite.  He finished 19^th in both receptions and receiving yards in 2025.  That isn’t even close to elite.  It’s just good.  Being good doesn’t allow you to be a horse’s ass though.  Especially when the team has another receiver who is better.

What?  You don’t think Devonta Smith is better?  Well, Smith finished tied for 21^st in receptions and actually had more receiving yards (1008 to 1003) than Brown.  And that’s with Brown whining and complaining about not getting the ball thrown to him enough all season. 

There were several games where QB Jalen Hurts felt like he needed to force the ball to Brown to shut him up and the offense suffered.  Of course, blaming Brown for the pitiful passing offense last season isn’t fair.  Most of that blame belongs at the feet of Hurts, who was only 16^th in yards passing (3,224).  Sorry Hurts apologists, but he isn’t elite either.  Just ask all the offensive coordinator hopefuls who didn’t even want to interview for the open OC job with the Eagles this offseason.  But I digress.

I understand that trading Brown comes at a significant cost to the salary cap, but it’s worth it.

If the Eagles trade Brown before June 1, they will incur a $43 million cap hit in 2026.  If they wait until after June 1^st to trade him, they can spread out the cap hit over the next two seasons.  The problem with that is that the draft is in April.  The Eagles would most likely want to get something for him sooner, rather than later.

And it sure sounds like the Eagles are willing to listen to offers for Brown.  Both head coach Nick Sirianni and GM Howie Roseman didn’t say No when asked if they would trade Brown.  I won’t bore you with the word-salad responses they gave, but both indicated that while they aren’t actively trying to trade Brown (lies), they would listen to any offers.  Why wouldn’t they?

So exactly who would they trade AJ Brown to and what would they get in return. 

Recent trades for top receivers seem to indicate that Brown would only be worth a 2^nd round pick in return.

4/3/24 – Stefon Diggs was traded by Houston to Buffalo along with 2025 5^th round pick and a 2024 6^th round pick for a 2025 2^nd round pick.

10/15/24 – Devonte Adams was traded by Las Vegas to the Jets for a 2025 3^rd round pick.

3/1/25 – Deebo Samuel was traded by San Francisco to Washington for a 2025 5^th round pick.

3/9/25 – DK Metcalf was traded from Seattle to Pittsburgh along with a 2025 6^th round pick for a 2025 2^nd round pick and a 2025 7^th round pick.

5/7/25 – George Pickens was traded by Pittsburgh to Dallas along with a 2027 6^th round pick for a 2026 3^rd round pick and a 2027 5^th round pick.

So, the rumors that Eagles GM Howie Roseman is asking for a 1^st and a 2^nd for Brown are insane.  Howie isn’t getting close to that in return for Brown.  Like I said, a 2^nd is probably the best they can expect to get back.  Maybe they get the other team to throw in a receiver too.

Now let’s look at the teams who might want to trade for Brown.

The obvious trade partner is the New England Patriots.  They desperately need a receiver for Drake Maye, and their coach is literally praising Brown in public interviews, even though coaches aren’t permitted to discuss players on other teams.  (Hey, it’s the Patriots.  They get away with cheating all the time.  Nothing new there).  Since NE coach Mike Vrabel previously coached Brown in Tennessee, the two have a history.  And then there is the fact that Brown grew up a Pats fan and was recently on the “Dudes on Dudes” podcast (Helpful note: Do NOT Google “Dudes on Dudes”.  You might not get what you were looking for), hosted by Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski talking about playing for New England.

The Patriots would definitely trade the Eagles their 2^nd round pick in the 2026 draft for Brown.  The problem is that it’s at the very end of the 2^nd round (63 overall).  I’d still take that deal for Brown.

The Buffalo Bills certainly could use a receiver for Josh Allen.  The problem is that the Bills are already way over the salary cap for 2026 and they have over 20 free agents of their own to consider.  But for the sake of argument, let’s say the Bills offer the Eagles their 2^nd round pick (60) and receiver Keon Coleman.  After the Bills owner publicly questioned the previous coaching staff’s drafting of Coleman after last season, he’s definitely available.  He’s nowhere close to Brown as a receiver, but you could do worse for a 2^nd or 3^rd receiver.  I’m all in.

The Baltimore Ravens could also use a receiver for 2-time MVP Lamar Jackson.  The Ravens 2^nd round pick is #45, so I doubt they would trade that.  Maybe they offer a conditional 3^rd that can become a 2^nd based on certain performance benchmarks.  

The LA Chargers have $81 million in cap space available and a need for a #1 receiver.  Ladd McConkey led LA with 789 yards receiving last season and Keenan Allen is 33 and a free agent, so they need an upgrade.  Their 2^nd round pick is #55, so maybe a conditional 3^rd.

Other teams that might have interest in Brown are San Francisco, who is seemingly blowing up their receiving corps and has $40 million in salary cap space.  The Pittsburgh Steelers might want to reunite former Ole Miss teammates, Brown and DK Metcalf, to give Aaron Rodgers (?) a talented group of receivers to throw to under first year head coach Mike McCarthy.  Former Eagles offensive Coordinator Kellen Moore needs another receiver to team up with Chris Olave in New Orleans for young QB Tyler Shough, but the Saints are always in salary cap hell, so I doubt they can fit his salary.

The point is, there is definitely a market out there for AJ Brown.  His name value makes him more valuable than his actual production last season.  And maybe other teams will agree with me that the offensive shortcomings of the 2025 Eagles were more Hurts’ fault than the receivers. 

Let’s just hope other GMs don’t go back and watch the tape from the playoff loss to the 49ers.  If they do, they will see that AJ Brown absolutely quit on his team.  It was blatantly obvious that he didn’t even try for some passes.  That alone makes me want to trade him.  I mean, Ricky Watters only alligator-armed one pass in one game (“For who?  For what?”).  Other than that, Watters gave his all every single snap.

Brown, on the other hand, has been a problem for a few years now.  He’s not a bad person off the field, other than his inability to shut up.  But you can’t have a player publicly feuding with the QB and head coach.  Everyone saw Sirianni screaming at Brown during the playoff loss. 

For those who think that teams can’t just trade away talented players, all you need to do is look at the reigning Super Bowl Champion Seahawks.  Last offseason, Seattle traded away DK Metcalf and won the Super Bowl.  It helps when you have a stud receiver like Jaxon Smith-Njigba.  But the Eagles have a similar receiver in Devonta Smith.  Perhaps Smith isn’t as good as Smith-Njigba, but Devonta might see the same improvement in his stats without Brown demanding the ball every snap.  And it’s not like Smith doesn’t have a pedigree as an elite receiver.  He won the Heisman Trophy.

I also don’t think you need two No. 1 WRs on your roster.  How many teams have two stud receivers?  I say it’s only three teams.

The Rams have Puka Nacua and Devante Adams.  The Bengals have Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgens.  And the Cowboys have CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens (free agent).  No other team has two receivers that would be a No. 1 on another team, so it’s not a necessity. 

And the final reason to trade Brown is that the Eagles spent more on their offense last season than any other team in the NFL.  And they certainly didn’t get their money’s worth out of their investment.  Now they need to start paying all the young players on defense that carried the team to that Super Bowl two years ago.  Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Reed Blankenship, Cooper DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell all need to be paid.  By trading Brown now and getting his future cap hits of roughly $25 million per year over the next 3 years off the books, they will free up some of that money.

It’s time.  Time for the Eagles to grant Brown his wish and trade him.  Send him to another team to chase the stats he craves more than anything else.  Let him chase personal glory over team success.  Let him be a constant pain in the ass to another QB and another franchise.  Let him go.

Trade AJ Brown now, Eagles.  It’s for the best.