Howie Roseman has said he will listen to trade offers for A.J. Brown. Trade offers will come. People do not want to hear it, but Brown wants off the team, and the team wants him gone. The Eagles will find a trade partner that Brown will be happy with. The question for the Eagles and Brown is, who is going to make such an offer?
A first-round pick would appear to be fair compensation.
With four selections in the top 100 picks in the 2026 NFL Draft, the Eagles should and probably will aim for a 2027
pick. Since 2021, the Eagles have made nine trades that acquired a pick from a draft that wasn’t the upcoming draft. Roseman has the job security to not need that draft pick now.
Prime targets
Buffalo Bills
Brandon Beane is always bringing in veteran wide receivers. 25 WRs have caught 1599 passes since 2019 for the Bills, and 15 of those WRs and 992 of those receptions were by veterans Beane acquired.
The Bills believe that they’re still Super Bowl contenders. They may be right. But they also seem prime for collapse. Sean McDermott’s firing was warranted, but everything since then indicates that he was holding the organization together. The Bills’ 2026 1st rounder is 26th. It’s a good bet that their 2027 pick will be better.
Beane believes that a new head coach can get more out of bust Keon Coleman, so he may be content to have Joe Brady roll with the WRs he has. But if the Patriots are interested, perhaps the Bills will be interested too.
Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs need all kinds of help at WR.
Would Brown and the 23rd pick for the 9th pick do the job? The value difference between 9 and 23 is an early 2nd round pick. The Eagles can sell it as, as Howie Roseman will say, adding a top 10 pick, the Chiefs still keep a 1st rounder. Everyone wins, in theory.
But the Chiefs shouldn’t do that deal, they should offer a 2027 1st instead. But they also desperately need a WR.
A 2027 1st probably won’t be top 10, but the Chiefs were just 6-8 with Patrick Mahomes, they might now be the 3rd best team in their own division. This too could be a good pick.
New England Patriots
If the Patriots are interested in Brown, the reasons are obvious: they need to get Drake Maye as much help as they can while on his rookie contract, and Brown and Mike Vrabel have a good history together.
Much like the Bills, the Patriots are a decent bet to have a good pick in 2027, so the Eagles should be highly interested (getting him out of the conference with either team would be a nice bonus too). The Patriots played a really soft schedule in the regular season, which isn’t their fault, and 14 wins is hard to repeat. They also fluked their way to a Super Bowl run, CJ Stroud couldn’t stop turning over the ball (nor could Drake Maye), and the Broncos didn’t have a QB.
Drake Maye is a legit QB, but the 2025 Patriots were fraudulent. Their 2027 pick could be very nice to have.
Other options
Arizona Cardinals
Arizona GM Monti Ossenfort was with the Titans when Brown was drafted. The Cardinals already have Michael Wilson coming off a semi-breakout season and are waiting on Marvin Harrison Jr. to break out, but Ossenfort also has a new, offensive minded coach and a 15-36 record, so he may feel pressure to do something.
Baltimore Ravens
Baltimore needs improvement at WR, but trading for Brown wouldn’t be their style. When they have brought in veteran WRs, as they have with DeAndre Hopkins, Odell Beckham, Nelson Agholor, and Sammy Watkins, they sign them to short term contracts in free agency, not trade for them.
Cleveland Browns
The Browns’ entire starting offensive line is entering free agency. They’re not going to be able to bring them all back, so in addition to having a sack prone QB he’s going to have a new OL. What a wonderful combination to have a top pick from.
The Browns have a bigger problem though: only the Eagles have less potential cap space than Cleveland. It is hard to see how they can afford him unless they once again restructure Deshaun Watson’s contract.
Indianapolis Colts
If the Colts can’t reach an agreement with Alec Pierce and don’t tag him, they’ll have a burning hole at WR. Howie Roseman and Chris Ballard are no strangers to trading with each other, having done trades for Carson Wentz and Matt Pryor, and have made several draft day trades with each other.
Washington Commanders
Washington has no 2nd round or 4th round pick this year, but they have all their picks for 2027. The Eagles should have no issues with trading Brown within the division. Brown would be replacing Deebo Samuel, who had 727 yards and 5 TDs. Even if Brown had a great season, he wouldn’t be a massive, game changing upgrade for the Commanders like he was when the Eagles replaced Jalen Reagor with him.
Added bonus: the 2027 draft is in Washington. That alone might make the Commanders keep their pick. Josh Harris, sell the team.
