Eagles trade A.J. Brown to Patriots in blockbuster deal

The Philadelphia Eagles are trading star receiver A.J. Brown to the New England Patriots for a first-round pick in 2028 and a fifth-round pick in 2027. The trade caps months of anticipation and speculation and ends a partnership that included a Super Bowl win, offensive fireworks and plenty of off-field frustrations.

The move gives the Patriots the No. 1 wide receiver they’ve long sought — and a new top target for quarterback Drake Maye. It is also a sign that New England is pushing its chips in after a surprising Super Bowl run and is not content to run it back with a similar roster.

The addition of Brown dramatically improves New England’s wide receiver room, which already added Romeo Doubs in free agency, but lost Stefon Diggs after his release. Brown can be their big “X” receiver on the outside, and Doubs can play on the other side as a “Z,” while there are plenty of options for the slot. The Patriots also improved at safety, nabbing Kevin Byard, and bolstered their offensive line with guard Alijah Vera-Tucker.

Acquiring Brown also addresses one of the franchise’s biggest weaknesses, which spans nearly two decades: The Patriots haven’t had an outside receiver of Brown’s caliber since Randy Moss left the franchise in 2010.

As with every NFL trade, the deal is contingent on all involved players passing physicals.

For Philadelphia, the deal concludes months of drama following a turbulent year for Brown and the Eagles. Brown, 28, has four seasons left on his contract after signing a three-year, $96 million extension in April 2024 with the most guaranteed money for any wide receiver in the NFL. He said at the time that his “goal” was to retire with the Eagles.

By making this trade after June 1, the Eagles spread Brown’s $43.45 million in dead money over 2026 and 2027. The Eagles will absorb a $16.35 million salary cap hit this season while opening $7.04 million in salary-cap space. They will also have significant cash savings by no longer paying the remaining salaries in the deal. The salary-cap ramifications are a major reason the trade was delayed.

In four seasons with the Eagles, Brown finished with 339 receptions, 5,034 yards and 32 touchdowns while earning second-team All-Pro honors three times. The Eagles won the Super Bowl with Brown as the top receiver, reached another Super Bowl and secured a postseason bid in all four seasons. He became the first player in franchise history to eclipse 1,000 receiving yards in four consecutive seasons.

Before the 2025 campaign, Brown explained that winning the Super Bowl left him unfulfilled and that he wanted to “put a stamp” on being the best wide receiver in the NFL. By January, he was in a heated sideline spat with coach Nick Sirianni during the Eagles’ postseason loss and did not speak publicly during the final month of a season when his actions in the locker room, on social media and even in Twitch live streams prompted headlines.

On the field, Brown still topped 1,000 receiving yards, but he had his least productive season since coming to Philadelphia. He finished with 78 catches for 1,003 yards and seven touchdowns in 15 games. His yards per game were the fewest since his rookie season with the Tennessee Titans; his yards per reception (12.9) were the fewest in his career.

In New England, Brown will be reunited with Mike Vrabel, who coached him with the Titans from 2019 to 2021. The two became close, and Vrabel appeared frustrated during the 2022 NFL Draft when Brown was traded to the Eagles.

“I’ve watched him grow,” Vrabel said of Brown at the NFL Scouting Combine in February. “I’ve watched him mature. I’m proud of him. Proud of the father that he is, proud of the husband (he is), and that has nothing to do with where he plays or where he played. Those are the things that are important. We reach out and text each other during the things that happen good to each other, and sometimes things don’t go so well for the people that you’re close with, and you text those as well. It’s a two-way street of support and reminders of what got us to where we are here today.”

It’s also the latest (and biggest) move the Patriots made to improve an offense that was thwarted by the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl. They rebuilt their offensive line and signed Doubs, who now projects as their No. 2 option behind Brown. With the two of them, the Pats have improved significantly on what was one of the league’s weakest groups of wide receivers.

Telegraphing that both franchises were headed toward a trade, the Eagles moved up in the first round of April’s draft to pick wide receiver Makai Lemon, while the Patriots didn’t use any of their nine picks on a wide receiver. Now, the deal so many saw coming for months is finally done.

Brown’s frustrations in Philadelphia were complicated. The offense played a factor — and Brown’s exasperation, when he voiced it, was about the offense. In November, he was on a live stream with “Janky Rondo” and said he’s “been struggling” and that other than his family, “everything else … (is) a s—show.” He added that if you have him on your fantasy team, you should “get rid” of him. Later that week, when speaking to reporters by his locker, Brown said, “If you have eyes, you can see that.”

“I’m literally trying to laugh through this s—,” Brown said. “This s— is tough. But I’m trying to make fun of the situation and to try to get through it. So, you know, it is what it is, man.”

Brown was also a truth-teller about the Eagles offense. He said in November that they “can’t just keep slapping a Band-Aid over that and you expect to win later in the year and you think you’re gonna go to it at the end of the year.” That comment proved clairvoyant when the Eagles were eliminated from the postseason with the same problems that were apparent all season. That’s why he pushed back on the idea that he only cared about his statistics. He spoke up because he felt it was needed to win. Even during the Eagles’ 2024 Super Bowl season, Brown suggested “passing” needed to improve as late as December. The Eagles heeded his call then, but the lack of consistency was a problem throughout 2025.

His frustration was heard as early as September — even when the Eagles were undefeated. He had a cryptic social media post, for which he apologized because he “let frustrations boil over,” and said, “I think it’s normal to have frustrations because of the standard we hold ourselves to.”

When the Eagles acquired Brown in 2022, his relationship with quarterback Jalen Hurts was a major selling point. They had been friends since they were high school recruits, and Hurts is the godfather of Brown’s daughter. Their relationship is not what it once was — something Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham acknowledged in a radio interview last season — and Brown even admitted last offseason on the “Million Dollaz Worth of Game” podcast that “I’d be lying to tell you we never had any issues.”

When Hurts was asked at the end of the season if he wanted Brown back next year, he responded: “A.J. and I have talked. We’re in a great place. … Maybe y’all can talk to him and ask.” Hurts did not change his description of their relationship when asked about it in his first news conference of the offseason and congratulated Brown on his wedding. He also acknowledged the possibility of the trade.

“There’s an ‘if.’ Obviously, been a lingering thing,” Hurts said. “But nothing can replace all the greatness that we achieved together.”

For all the attention that goes to the finances, it’s hard to rationalize trading Brown from a football perspective. It was a major boon when the Eagles landed the receiver in 2022, surrendering a first-round pick and a third-round pick and signing him to a four-year, $100 million contract. They gave him a new deal after two years, and he’s among the best receivers in Eagles history. He has single-season franchise records for receiving yards and receptions by a wide receiver. He is on a Hall of Fame trajectory; he has the fourth-most yards in the NFL since he entered the league, and is one of only four players to reach 1,000 yards in four consecutive seasons.

“It is hard to find great players in the NFL, and A.J.’s a great player,” Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said when asked after the season if he’d considered trading Brown. “I think from my perspective, that’s what we’re going out and looking for when we go out here in free agency and in the draft, is trying to find great players who love football, and he’s that guy. I think that would be my answer. ”

The Eagles spent the offseason bolstering the passing game with a post-Brown offense in mind. That included selecting Lemon in the first round, trading for Dontayvion Wicks (and signing Wicks to a contract extension) and adding Hollywood Brown and Elijah Moore in free agency. They also re-signed tight end Dallas Goedert and drafted Eli Stowers in the second round. DeVonta Smith will emerge as the Eagles’ clear No. 1 receiver in A.J. Brown’s absence.

Roseman’s messaging about wanting to keep Brown never publicly changed, and his go-to line when asked throughout the offseason was that Brown is a member of the Eagles. However, he admitted that he will always listen to calls. Those calls turned into a blockbuster trade.