The Philadelphia Eagles apparently do not plan to trade A.J. Brown, even if it’s probably the right move at this point. The two sides have never quite been a perfect pairing, with Brown routinely becoming frustrated with the offense over the years.
That culminated in a poor performance in the Wild Card Round loss. Despite facing a bad defense that was missing a ton of starters, the Eagles struggled. Brown caught only three passes for 25 yards and had two drops.
He even got into a heated argument with head coach Nick Sirianni during the game. There’s been dysfunction all season long. Brown popped up in trade rumors, and with how things went the rest of the way, those rumors popped up again.
Despite all that and maybe a reason the Eagles should move him, they’re reportedly not planning to.
Eagles don’t want to trade A.J. Brown
A.J. Brown doesn’t seem to love the Eagles anymore, and the Eagles don’t seem to be able to consistently get him the ball. A trade would be wholly unsurprising, but GM Howie Roseman essentially tried to shut down that talk.
“It is hard to find great players in the NFL, and A.J. is a great player,” Roseman said via ESPN at his end-of-season press conference. “I think from my perspective, that’s what we’re going out and looking for when we go out here in free agency, in the draft, just trying to find great players who love football, and he’s that guy.”
“I think that when you’re trying to be a great team, it’s hard to trade great players, and A.J. Brown is a great player,” Roseman said. “He wears a ‘C’ for a reason. 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 logic is sound. There are only a handful of wide receivers in the NFL better than Brown. Talent isn’t everything, but it’s a big piece of the puzzle. If the Eagles can work out their offensive kinks, then Brown will be a valuable weapon on the outside.
But if they can’t, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if he, once again, got mentioned in trade rumors. Roseman is one of the best GMs in football, and he usually gets the better of a deal, so if he does decide to trade Brown, it will probably end up working out for Philadelphia.
Could Roseman change his mind?
Despite his comments, Eagles GM Howie Roseman may end up changing his mind. For one thing, the Eagles don’t even have an offensive coordinator, so a shakeup on that side of the ball would not be unexpected.
Other teams might force his hand, too. Brown will cost a ton even if he asks for a trade and removes the Eagles’ leverage. So if a team wants to entice Roseman to move on, they’ll have to make him an offer he can’t refuse.
Maybe a desperate team, someone like the Buffalo Bills, that needs a wide receiver in a bad way, packages a couple of first-round picks, and Roseman just can’t pass that up. In that case, a trade would be the most beneficial thing.
Brown’s a great player, but he obviously brings some baggage to a team, and the Eagles’ passing offense hasn’t always been great, even with him and Devonta Smith forming an elite one-two punch. That could be in the back of Roseman’s mind even now.
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