So, are the Philadelphia Eagles trading A.J. Brown or not? That’s something we’ll all be watching closely this week as trades can become official when the new league year begins on Wednesday, March 11.
Late last week, there seemed to be a sense that a Brown deal was close. Check out what NFL insider Mike Garafolo shared on Friday’s edition of The Anthony Gargano Show:
The latest buzz, however, suggests that a trade might not be imminent.
Here’s what NFL insider Ian Rapoport had to say on Sunday evening:
The Eagles have maintained conversations with several teams, it’s not just the Patriots. There are some interested teams. It certainly seems like the Rams have checked in recently on A.J. Brown, as far as a potential deal there.
But just based on kinda where it seems things stand right now, I do not sense a lot of momentum towards an A.J. Brown deal. There have been — as I said — talks and there were certain times where it seemed like something might get done. I just don’t sense that right now.
For the Philadelphia Eagles, the reality is where their cap is right now, where the A.J. Brown contract is right now, it actually makes more sense for them to trade him after June 1 because you can kind of get through the hardest part cap-wise, so $40 million doesn’t accelerate and hit the cap right now.
Do the Eagles want to or are they willing to wait until after the draft to do a deal? Is A.J. Brown willing to not be traded until after the draft? This is a lot of questions here. I think most people believe that [if] this doesn’t happen by [March 9], then everyone probably has to hit pause. That could be coming, but that situation is not reality just yet.
Those who don’t want to see Brown traded will welcome this news. There’s a strong argument to be made for the Eagles keeping him.
It doesn’t seem quite that simple, however. If it was, the Eagles could merely opt to shut down this trade talk.
Instead, Roseman is reportedly considering creative methods to try to get a deal done. Here’s more from the aforementioned Garafolo:
Listen, I think a couple of things have been misunderstood here. And in conversations with sources familiar with the talks with a number of teams …
Number one, this notion that the Patriots aren’t willing to give up a first-round pick, there’s a difference between giving up this year’s first-round pick, which is No. 31, and next year’s first-round pick, which was also part of the discussion, because that’s an unknown. You don’t know what that pick is going to wind up being. Potentially, it could be a lot higher. You already know that the pick this year, well, it can’t get much worse, it’s at the back end of the first round. Basically, for a lot of teams, that’s considered a second-round pick, because this is a bit of a thin draft. That’s one.
The other thing that I have come to understand is that Howie Roseman — and this shouldn’t really come as a surprise — was trying to be creative about these negotiations with teams and say ‘Well, could we do sort of a split deal? Like, do half the deal now?’ And then what [Rapoport] was talking about, finish the rest of the deal after June 1st, this way it’s not as bad against the team’s salary cap immediately. They can spread A.J. Brown’s hit moving into the future. Teams were saying ‘No, no, no. You do trades all at one time. That’s how it works.’
But Roseman’s trying to be creative because this is a tough situation for him. He can trade him after June 1st to help with the salary cap implications but he’s got to carry that number for now and then other teams are going to move on and say, ‘Well, we’re not getting A.J. Brown, we’re doing other things.’ So, that market could dry up even further. It’s a very complicated one. Roseman’s trying to find a solution. We’ll see if he can before the start of the league year. If not, this will be something around the draft, and maybe even in the future we’ll talk about.
Ask yourself: if the Eagles truly want to keep Brown, why is their general manager trying to get creative to move off of him?
Perhaps it’s an effort to let Brown know the team is trying their best to realistically honor his potential request for a trade. Maybe the Eagles hope he’ll change his mind, assuming he wants out (like he did during the 2025 season).
I still have my doubts that’ll end up being the case. I’ve said all along that I fully expect Brown to not return to the Eagles in 2026. I hope I’m wrong about that projection.
While a trade might not be imminent, it seems like this topic isn’t going away.