It is official.
After months of social media jabs, frustrations with his role in the offense, and plenty of pages read on the sidelines, A.J. Brown has officially been traded away from the Philadelphia Eagles. In a deal first reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the New England Patriots will add the star wide receiver for the cost of a 2028 first-round pick and a 2027 fifth-round pick.
Trade Details & Grades:
Full Trade:
- Patriots Get: A.J. Brown
- Eagles Get: 2028 first-round pick, 2027 fifth-round pick
Patriots Grade: A-
The Patriots took a massive step forward as a franchise last year, going from 4-13 to in 2024 to 14-3. New England exceeded even the most ambitious expectations, making it all the way to the Super Bowl in Drake Maye’s second season at the NFL level. This was all while lacking reliable pass-catchers in the offense. While making it to the big stage is impressive in its own right, getting back to it is an even more challenging task.
Brown will immediately walk in and be the best receiver the Patriots organization has had since Randy Moss. He also has a familiarity with head coach Mike Vrabel, dating back to their time together with the Tennessee Titans. Stefon Diggs led all receivers on the Patriots roster with 1,013 yards through the air, and this is a mark that Brown has eclipsed in five of his seven seasons at the NFL level.
While there is a time limit for how long his staying power could be with the organization, Brown will provide an immediate upgrade to their offense. As much noise as there is about the off-field drama surrounding him, you will find very few teammates to say a bad word about the star pass-catcher. His frustrations seemingly largely stemmed from the Eagles’ offensive approach and his role within the team, as well as not seeing eye-to-eye with his quarterback. Expect this to be a welcome change of scenery from Brown’s perspective and for him to come in ready to reaffirm his place as one of the top wideouts in the league on a team with Super Bowl aspirations.
Eagles Grade: B-
The Philadelphia Eagles made the all-in trade for A.J. Brown during the night of the 2022 NFL Draft to further raise the ceiling of the offense. Brown was a seamless fit for what the organization needed, bursting onto the scene with a career-high 1,496 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns. He tallied 1,000+ receiving yards in all four seasons in Philadelphia, with 32 touchdowns across this stretch. The three-time Pro Bowler was vital to providing Jalen Hurts with a true WR1, and the Eagles would not have won their 2024 Super Bowl without him.
But, as tends to be the case with top wide receivers, there is a level of drama that comes with Brown that has started to outweigh the production. Entering his age-29 season, Brown is coming off 1,003 receiving yards last year, which marks his fewest since his final year in Tennessee and second-lowest tally of his career. Largely driven by his belief that the offense could reach a peak that was never seen last year, Brown became increasingly frustrated with the play-calling and his quarterback to a level that forced this divorce.
Philadelphia largely revealed its hand with the selection of Makai Lemon with the 20th overall pick in this year’s draft and brought in Hollywood Brown and Dontayvion Wicks in free agency. DeVonta Smith has a case for being a WR1 in his own right and will see his role scaled up without Brown. The Eagles did a nice job building out the wide receiver core with Brown’s departure in mind, and now will have future draft picks to address things down the line. Making the offensive coordinator change the way Philadelphia did in the offseason will also play a major role in solving some of last year’s problems.
You will rarely win a trade moving on from a player of Brown’s caliber. But the Eagles deserve credit for being proactive in improving the outlook for the pass-catching group with this move in mind and should still be viewed as Super Bowl threats even without him.
