More Thoughts on the AJ Brown Situation

I hate writing about this because it is such a divisive topic. People get irrational and you go from an honest discussion to an inane argument. I had someone on Twitter recently tell me I had no journalistic integrity and was just doing clickbait for saying AJ will be traded. If anything, I’m the polar opposite of clickbait. Just look at the headline for today. That’s pretty bland. Not “AJ Must Go!” or something wild.

Trying to understand the situation is tricky because we have to infer things. AJ hasn’t put out a notarized statement saying “I want to be traded” so some people simply will not believe that’s exactly what he does want. They are living in a world that demands definitive proof. Okay. That’s just not the way the real world works. We often have to read between the lines, and that is certainly the case here.

Howie Roseman has stated multiple times that he isn’t in the business of trading away good players. This isn’t a move the Eagles want to make. They would prefer to keep AJ. He’s a top receiver and difference-maker. So why are the Eagles having trade talks? The AJ deniers, as we’ll call them, would have you believe Diana Russini cooked up this story and teams are just calling the Eagles. That might make sense to some, but it isn’t reality. A dozen or so NFL insiders have reported on this at length. That wouldn’t happen if this were some conjured up deal and the Eagles just received a few calls.

We know there have been active negotiations with the Rams and Patriots. That doesn’t happen unless Howie is open to trading AJ. This is a complex financial situation because of the cap ramifications so this isn’t a deal of convenience. The Eagles aren’t rebuilding. They aren’t aggressively looking for picks. So again, why is AJ available?

AJ wants to be traded.

When Haason Reddick wanted out, Howie traded him. When Carson Wentz wanted out, Howie traded him. If veterans let Howie know they feel strongly and want to move on, he does what he can. He’s not trying to trade Jalen Hurts or Jordan Mailata or Cooper DeJean. The Eagles spend a lot of time and money to acquire and develop good players. The last thing they want is to see them leave. But they also understand the importance of keeping players happy and having a healthy locker room. Howie saw how the TO situation divided and broke the 2005 Eagles and even had implications beyond that. If AJ is on the block it is because he wants out.

Why? This is where we have to speculate.

AJ finished 19th in the league in catches and yards last season. RB Bijan Robinson had one more reception than him. Five WRs, one TE and one RB all had 100 or more receptions. AJ had 78. I think that bothers the heck out of him. In his mind it diminishes his value. He’s more talented than several of the guys that were more productive than him. He was 37th in receptions in 2024 so don’t try to blame this on Kevin Patullo.

What if he played in an offense with a good QB that fed the ball to their star receiver? He could be right there with Puka Nacua, Ja’Marr Chase or JSN. And that would help his legacy. I’m sure AJ would love to go to the Hall of Fame. That’s not happening with the Eagles. Receivers have to put up gaudy numbers to get in these days. AJ won’t be a high volume receiver playing alongside DeVonta Smith and with Saquon Barkley getting a ton of carries.

AJ isn’t being greedy. He isn’t after more money. He just sees other guys being featured more than him and wants that. Receivers all have some diva to their personalities so this makes total sense. He’s been to a pair of Super Bowls and won one of them. Why not focus on Canton now? Plus, being a high volume receiver would allow him to have even more of an impact and feel like he’s helping his team even more.

Again, that is all speculation on my part. I talked to my nephew during last season and we got into a discussion on receivers. I mentioned AJ as one of the best in the league. He looked at me like I was crazy. “You think he’s anywhere close to Puka?” That really hit me like a ton of bricks. Fans pay a lot of attention to stats. The perception by casual fans might be that AJ isn’t on the same level as those guys. If AJ gets that sense at all, it would have to drive him crazy. He is incredibly talented.

So why isn’t AJ demanding a trade openly if he does want out? The cap issues make this complicated. Howie can’t promise AJ he’ll find a trade partner. The team has a good relationship with AJ and his agent. They are working together to get this done. Howie won’t let AJ go without fair compensation. He may not get what he ideally wants, but certainly has something he’d be comfortable with. If AJ openly demands a trade, that diminishes his value. Howie would then have to decide if moving him is worth it. By working together, the Eagles have a chance to get a better return and AJ has a better chance to go somewhere he would prefer to be.

Let’s say the Eagles do trade AJ in early June. How does that affect the team? Aren’t they clearly worse? How do you replace him?

The idea that adding a couple of OKish third receiver-types means the Eagles can adequately replace AJ Brown reminds me of those cartoons where a kid stands on another kid’s shoulders, they wrap up in a trench coat, and pretend to be an adult.
I hope this is not the plan.

— Les Bowen (@LesBowen) April 14, 2026

You aren’t going to replace AJ one for one with another receiver. This is a bit of a moneyball situation where you try to replace his production through multiple players. The number three receiver on the Eagles has had a total of 52 catches over the past three seasons. That is insanely low. The Eagles either threw it to AJ, DeVonta, DG or they ran the ball. That certainly can work, but it also makes things easier on the defense. You become predictable. By adding multiple veteran receivers and spreading the ball around you can make the defense play more honest.

Fair enough, but what about the critical plays? AJ is a special player and can be a difference-maker in those situations. The problem is that AJ wasn’t that guy consistently last year. He had some costly drops. He wasn’t always running routes at full speed. His blocking fell off. He let his emotions affect his play and it showed to anyone who was watching. Do we think AJ is going to be more dialed in this year? Maybe, but there aren’t any guarantees, especially if he’s told the team he wants out. Football is hard. If you’re not fully bought in, it will show.

The Eagles have mentioned a couple of times that they think DeVonta can take a big step forward and be a volume receiver if the focus is on him. He’s a great route-runner and has strong hands. Seattle won the Super Bowl last year with JSN, an aging Cooper Kupp and Rashid Shaheed as their trio of receivers. Is that significantly better than DeVonta, Dontayvion Wicks and Marquise Brown? They had a great defense that was the key to their team. The Eagles finished 5th in scoring defense last year and expect to be very good this season. The Eagles aren’t trying to be the 1999 Rams. They still have plenty of talent on offense and will almost certainly add a TE and WR in next week’s draft. The 2017 team won it all with Alshon Jeffery, Nelson Agholor, Torrey Smith and Mack Hollins. You don’t need a pair of elite receivers to win.

The Eagles will certainly be less talented without AJ. They could be a better team, though. They have a new offensive scheme. They will have several veteran receivers who can contribute. Jalen Hurts will have more options and won’t be forcing the ball to AJ, which became a bad habit at times. Find the open guy and get him the ball. Doesn’t matter who it is. The real key to 2026 is the OL getting healthy and playing better. If the OL struggles again, it won’t matter who the receivers are. With a healthy OL and strong running game, the Eagles passing game should be able to get the job done.

There are no guarantees. Change brings on the unknown. The Eagles lost Seth Joyner and Clyde Simmons after the 1993 season. They replaced them with Bill Romanowski and William Fuller in 1994 and the team had a Top 10 defense. They replaced TO with Donte Stallworth in 2006 and had the #2 offense in the league. You can lose stars and still thrive. I could also give plenty of examples where things didn’t work out. I’m not in denial here. The point is that moving on from AJ doesn’t equate to the team definitely taking a step back. Seattle dealt DK Metcalf and got better. The Steelers dealt George Pickens and basically stayed the same (10-7 with and without him) and had almost identical offensive numbers.

This is a highly frustrating situation for everyone. AJ thinks a new team would make him happier. The Eagles don’t want to lose a star player. The fans think trading the star player is nuts and are absolutely against it. The media is just ready for it to be over, one way or the other. Waiting for June to find out if this will happen is draining.

Some will read this and think I’m way off or just stupid. That’s fine. My goal is just to explain things as I see them based on the evidence we have. AJ Brown has been one of my favorite Eagles. I don’t want to see him leave, but I also don’t want the guy from 2025. He was great at times (MIN) and then troubling at others (the painful playoff loss). I just want to try and shed some light as to what is going on with this situation. If you disagree, that’s absolutely fine. We’re all reading a complex situation from the outside.

We’ll get back to draft talk tomorrow.

_