The Case Against Trading A.J. Brown

Rumors say the Eagles are considering trading their star wide receiver. Should they?

Change is hard. It’s necessary to pave the long and grueling road towards the nirvana of excellence (memo to self: remember that for a LinkedIn post). But sometimes to change, you first need to crash out. And that’s exactly where the Philadelphia Eagles find themselves a month after being bounced from the playoffs by San Francisco’s scout team.

The NFL naturally forces teams to evolve and the Eagles have embraced that evolution this offseason. They’ve swapped out most of their offensive coaching staff (including offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, who’s been with the team since Obama’s second term) and replaced them with less experienced coaches with fresh ideas. Howie Roseman has key decisions to make on valuable free agents like Jaelan Phillips and Reed Blankenship. But most importantly, the Birds need to answer one question that’s been burning in the minds of the Philly faithful since the middle of last season: Will the Eagles trade A.J. Brown?

Words can’t begin to piece together how much A.J. Brown has meant to the city of Philadelphia since Roseman traded for him on draft night in 2022 (unfortunately, I have to try to find the words because your boy has newsletter to write). For years, we wandered through the desert with nothing but Nelson Agholors and Travis Fulghams to sustain us. T.O. gave us a glimpse of a better life. Alshon Jeffrey was our world. A good wide receiver means more in Philadelphia than you could ever know.

And A.J. has been no exception. He is the most talented Eagles wide receiver of all-time. Brown boasts the top two receiving-yard seasons in franchise history; he set an NFL record 125+ receiving yards in six consecutive games (topping Calvin Johnson’s record), and along with DeVonta Smith became the first wide receiver tandem in franchise history to both eclipse 1,000 yards in a season in 2022. He has been nothing short of a miracle in midnight green.

But things changed this season. Brown, who is known for publicly expressing his frustration when things aren’t going well, did a little more expressing. Philly’s uber-talented offense had a very unremarkable year under the guidance of a man whose name rhymes with “Devin Fatullo”. The vibes around the team shifted. And the rumors about the Eagles trading A.J. haven’t slowed down.

Brown’s demeanor has been a source of controversy in the City of Brotherly Love. A subsection of Philadelphia sports media and “long-time listeners, first-time callers” can have a real “you can’t quit because you’re fired” mentality when it comes to our athletes. They’re usually triggered when said athletes speak out about their team. We’re an emotional fan base who takes things personally. We want to be wanted.

Those insecurities can drive some people to be irrational. We get angry at A.J. Brown for being human. For expressing his frustrations with a toxic situation that we all know is toxic. For being frustrated that the forces outside of his control are indeed outside of his control.

There’s a lot around how we got here, although I don’t quite fully understand it myself. I wrote about Brown’s relationship with Jalen Hurts and how their inherent personalities can cause some conflict and misalignment. But recently, Hurts went out of his way to say he and A.J. are in a good place, which is notable because Hurts doesn’t go out of his way to say anything. There’s also Brown’s dust-up with Sirianni during the playoff game with the 49ers. But still, something doesn’t add up.

Trading a player like Brown would be unprecedented for Howie Roseman. Roseman took the league’s largest dead cap hit to ship Carson Wentz to the Colts, but that was in a move to get out of Wentz’s bad contract and the negative impact he had on the team. Roseman shipped out Haason Reddick in 2023 after an 11-sack season, but that was due to contract demands.

In terms of wide receivers and skill position players, the best comparison I could find was the Eagles releasing Alshon Jeffrey in 2021 at age 30 as part of a salary-cap overhaul. Roseman (like the rest of us in Philly) knows how hard it is to find talented playmakers. I’d expect nothing less from the man who drafted Jalen Reagor over Justin Jefferson.

I’m not here to question the validity of the A.J. Brown trade rumors. We’ve heard conflicting reports from folks like Dianna Russini, who insists trade conversations will continue, to Derrick Gunn, who insists A.J. will stay. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. But I do question the team’s intent.

If the Eagles intend to solidify themselves as a modern dynasty by appearing in their third Super Bowl in four years and winning their second in three years, is shipping out an all-world receiver really in their best interest?

As you can guess, I’m gonna say no. The argument around trading Brown comes down to three factors: trade value, on-the-field performance, and culture. So, Howie, if you’re listening, don’t hang up.

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Trade Value

At the Eagles end of the season press conference, alongside Nick Sirianni, Howie Roseman addressed the A.J. Brown question.

“It is hard to find great players in the NFL, and A.J. is a great player…He’s an important part of this team, of this organization. He cares about winning, he cares about his teammates, and I think when you’re a team like ours that is looking forward to an opportunity to compete for a championship, you just don’t get rid of guys like that.”

Roseman’s comments could be platitudes to drum up trade value, but he’s also very much right. As one of the league’s best wide receivers, Brown has immense value to a contending team looking to get over the hump. A team like…the one he’s already on. One with an ever-closing championship window with players who fit his timeline.

Philly’s skill position players are in their prime. Saquon Barkley is 29, Jalen Hurts will be 28 by the time the season starts, and DeVonta Smith is 27. The Eagles’ offensive line is slowly eroding due to a decline in health, talent, and a coaching change. They have the advantage of having an elite, young, and cheap defense that will only get more expensive in the years to come. Not to mention, the coordinator of that defense, and one of the greatest of all time, could retire after the season. The iron is scorching hot.

Financially, Brown is on a reasonable contract for a wide receiver of his stature. According to Over the Cap’s piece on moving on from A.J. Brown, trading him before June would incur a $48.9 million dead cap hit and a loss of $25.5 million in cap room, which is manageable for Roseman (who is a certified cap magician) but unfortunate for a team trying to win now. If the team trades Brown this summer, they still look at $22.09 million in dead money this year and $21.6 million in dead money in 2027. Either way, spending valuable cap space to not have one of the league’s best receivers on your team doesn’t feel like good business.

Trading Brown could bring back a solid compensation for the Birds, but would they be getting the best return they could for Brown after a down year? Or would running it back help rebuild any value that’s been lost?

A good starting point for compensation is last year’s D.K. Metcalf trade (Brown’s college teammate at Ole Miss). The Steelers traded a 2nd-round pick and a 7th rounder for Metcalf and a 6th-round pick.

Brown is more talented and decorated than Metcalf (who is a year younger). The Eagles have been on a hot streak with 2nd-round picks since 2020 (Jalen Hurts, Landon Dickerson, Cam Jurgens, Cooper DeJean). But for a team in a championship window, it’s unlikely that a 2nd-round player would return the value that A.J. Brown provides the team now.

On-the-Field Performance

At his best, Brown is a top-5 wide receiver in the NFL. An all-world talent with a competitive mindset that matches his physical gifts.

But there is a question about how Brown’s game will mature. He’s 28 years old and in the prime of his career. A comp for how he might progress is his former teammate in Tennessee, Julio Jones. Jones was 3 inches taller and 6 lbs lighter than Brown, but they have similar styles of play.

Jones tapered off after his age 30 season, when he went from 1,394 yards in 2020 (in his age 30 season) to 771 yards in 2020 (in his age 31 season). Brown has also been relatively healthy aside from some hamstring issues, missing only 7 games in 4 seasons with the Eagles.

Offensively, Brown’s skillset has been underutilized since Shane Steichen left town. The Sirianni offense is static and uncomplicated. Brown’s route tree is as diverse as a Kid Rock concert. He got his helpings off of curls, slants, and go balls. But Brown is built to thrive as a yards-after-the-catch receiver. His game excels when he gets ball on the move. Under Shane Steichen in 2022, Brown was 6th in the league for yards after the catch by a wide receiver. Under Kevin Patullo, he slipped out of the top 25 entirely (womp womp).

The solution to Brown’s usage woes could come from first-time offensive coordinator Sean Mannion. As Bleeding Green Nation’s Jonny Page noted in his review of Mannion’s potential offensive principles:

Too often, the Eagles’ passing attack felt confined to a single approach against defenses. The result was an offense that lived on deep shots, improvisation, or talent alone…Green Bay, by contrast, generated explosive plays not only through downfield aggression but also through design that created yards after the catch and schemed receivers into open space.

That sounds like A.J. Brown’s entrance music. It would behoove the Birds to see how A.J. operates in Mannion’s scheme. One of the main elements that could elevate the Green Bay Packers offense (Mannion’s former team) is a certified bucket getter. A go-to wide receiver who’s capable ot elevating the offensive system and making up the difference when things go wrong. Now we have a chance to see what that looks like in South Philly.

Even Sean McVay (whose system Mannion spent time in) brought in Puka Nacua and Davante Adams to take his offense to the next level. No system is above its talent. Mannion could be the cure for what ails A.J. and this struggling offense.

Culture Fit

The blood pumping through the beating heart of this trade narrative is A.J. Brown’s impact on the team’s culture.

As football-loving folk, we like to characterize outspoken wide receivers or running backs as “divas.” Divas are self-important and temperamental. We have experience with that in Philly. We’re often visited by ghosts of Terrell Owens doing situps in his driveway.

And A.J. has had a tumultuous season, which includes but is not limited to:

• Tweeting “If you’re not welcomed, not listened to, quietly withdraw. Don’t make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and be on your way.” after an ugly win over the Bucs

• Saying the offense was a “sh-t show” on a podcast with JankyRondo (a person I just learned is real)

• Saying “You can’t keep slapping a Band-Aid over that and expect to win late in the year and think you’re going to go to that at the end of the year,” after the Packers game

• Denying a meeting with Hurts and Barkley, even though the other two said they met

• Dropping 3 passes in a playoff game against San Francisco and topping it off by getting into a shouting match with Siriannin on the sideline

Now Brown did apologize for (most) of the above and a veteran wide receiver like him should understand the consequences of airing your grievances so publicly. But honestly, most of those comments were around an offense that we all knew was a train wreck. A.J. Brown voiced the frustrations we were all feeling, and he wasn’t the only one to do so. Lane Johnson shared similar sentiments. Multiple players spoke about needing to get on the same page.

Brown has long been the canary in the coal mine for this team. When a certain aspect of the offense is underperforming, he’ll speak about it (whether that’s right or wrong). Despite how outspoken he was last season, there’s no evidence that those comments were the main driver of dysfunction in the locker room. A.J.’s grievances seem to be a symptom of a team dysfunction rather than the cause of it.

And honestly, A.J. saying something kind of worked. After the JankyRondo twitch stream (a sentence someone couldn’t even comprehend like 10 years ago), Brown went from 38th in receiving yards, 40th in receptions, and 34th in targets to 7th, 6th, and 6th in those same metrics, respectively.

Brown is also beloved by his teammates. He’s a team captain seen shepherding players like Cooper DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell. He has a close relationship with Barkley and DeVonta Smith. There are unknowns about his relationship with Hurts, his former (maybe current, maybe future?) best friend, but Jalen alluded to them being in a great place.

Here’s what Howie Roseman said about Brown on Bussin’ With the Boys right before the 2025 season:

“I think A.J. one incredible player…and the person he is, how he’s fit in, and the things that he’s done to fit into this community. Him as a teammate, being named captain here, I mean, incredibly proud to see that …having him and DeVonta and their relationship and seeing two guys who are selfless, they just want to win, and I think you see that. You know, if A.J. has a great game, DeVonta is the first one congratulating him. When DeVonta has a big game, A.J. is the first one congratulating him. So it’s a beautiful thing.”

Leading up to the Super Bowl, Brown shared his thoughts on Philly on Micah Parsons’ podcast.

“I’m excited for the season. I’m excited for what’s to come. Philly welcomed me with open arms...that’s home…I love the support, I love the accountability.”

The Eagles haven’t been shy about moving on from unhappy players in the past, but those have usually been tied to contract disputes or difficult locker room dynamics. Brown doesn’t seem to fit neatly into either category.

We penalize players for saying what we’re thinking, worried about how a locker room that we aren’t in will react, without knowing the dynamics between players. All evidence suggests that A.J., for all intents and purposes, is a good teammate. A captain with close relationships across the team.

I honestly believe that everything you need to know about A.J. Brown can be explained through this Instagram post he shared after the 2024 Super Bowl victory. He’s a dude in pursuit of personal greatness that he defines within his value to the success of his team. He’s obsessed with being the best.

The Defense Rests

The pursuit of change can be liberating. It can free us from old habits. But pursuing change can also make us impulsive. Babies get thrown out with bath water. Mistakes are made. Guns are jumped. It can cloud our judgment, all in an effort to rinse the bad taste out of our mouths.

The Eagles have a significantly better chance of making it to the big dance this year with A.J. Brown than without him. That’s all the more reason to run it back and see if a new offensive system can heal a fresh wound. In the meantime, I will be printing this out and taping it to the door of the Eagles’ practice facility.