Eagles WR A.J. Brown was a hot name in the trade rumor business last season thanks to his open frustrations with the state of the team’s offense. However, as we noted at the time, there was no world where GM Howie Roseman would have been willing to pull the trigger on a deal by the deadline in early November. 

Now though? It’s a much more legitimate question, even if the noise has calmed down since Philadelphia’s season ended. Brown could have used his media appearances on Radio Row during Super Bowl week to stump for a trade like Browns DE Myles Garrett did last year. Instead, he struck a neutral, perhaps even a positive tone about the upcoming season and the changes the Eagles plan to make to the offensive system. 

The team hasn’t shown much appetite to trade Brown, either. Roseman has addressed it twice, once after the deadline and once after the season ended, and essentially struck the same tune. 

“It’s hard to find great players in the NFL and A.J.’s a great player,” Roseman said, via NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo. “That’s what we’re going out and looking for, when we go out in free agency and the Draft, is trying to find great players who love football and he’s that guy. So that would be my answer.”

If Brown were to change his mind and formally request a trade, that could change things. But even if he doesn’t, I don’t think Roseman would turn down the right offer given Brown’s age, salary and the friction with teammates and coaches. There were times last year when it looked like Brown had lost a half step, too, and the age cliff can hit fast for receivers. 

Regardless, expect the asking price to be high. The short-term ramifications of trading Brown, both on the salary cap and on the offense, are significant. 

Logistics & Asking Price

Brown’s contract is complex, even by NFL standards. He signed a three-year, $92 million extension ahead of the 2024 season, updating a previous four-year, $100 million pact he inked with the Eagles following his trade from the Titans in 2022. He’s still under contract through 2029. Because of the way the Eagles like to structure their contracts, trading Brown would cost the team $20 million in cap space. 

That’s about how much available space the team has to work with right now, and because this is how they structure most of their contracts, there aren’t a lot of easy levers to pull to get more. Philadelphia leans heavily on option bonuses, a contract mechanism that basically pre-restructures a deal. Option money is spread out over the length of the contract up to five years. Instead of a signing bonus, where the cash is due almost immediately, the money for an option bonus isn’t due until the date of the option. In Brown’s case, that was March 23rd last year but will be September 1st going forward for the remainder of his deal. 

This structure helps the Eagles maximize cap space in the short term. But it can impact long-term flexibility when a deal needs to come off the books sooner than expected and all the dead money pushed into the future has to be accounted for now. Brown is set to count just $23 million against the cap in 2026. A trade would leave the Eagles with $43 million in dead money from various bonuses over the two deals they’ve signed him to. 

Still, that doesn’t necessarily mean trading Brown is impossible. It would impact what the Eagles could spend this year, forcing them to be more judicious than they were already planning to be. It would save money in the long run, though. Brown is set to make $29 million guaranteed this year, most of which is spread out already in an option bonus. A trade means that money doesn’t hit the cap, as well as any future salaries due to Brown. 

That’s why I think the Eagles might be a little more open to trading Brown than Roseman’s statement indicates. Brown still topped 1,000 yards receiving last year and had games where he looked like his dominant self. His efficiency dipped notably, though, and at times he struggled to separate in man coverage, which used to be his calling card. He turns 29 in 2026. If you take his name out, most teams would be thrilled for the chance to save $29 million in cash and add a first-round pick for a 29-year-old wideout. 

Other teams are aware of that, too, so the Eagles might not get that strong of an offer. Free agency is slim pickings for wideouts but it once again looks like a deep and talented draft class at receiver. Teams that want playmakers will have cheaper options than pursuing Brown. In terms of adding a known quantity with a track record as No. 1-caliber wideout, though, there aren’t many that can match Brown this offseason. 

That’s why I suspect the Eagles feel solid about how things are with Brown right now. He’s under contract at an affordable cap hit and could be re-energized by the shift in offense, leading to a bounce-back 2026 season. The Eagles don’t have to trade him; they can credibly sell that they’ll just hold onto him unless they get blown away with an offer. If another team gets desperate enough, that’s exactly what could happen. 

Potential Landing Spots For Brown

With the Eagles in a solid negotiating position, a team interested in Brown is not going to get away with a late third-round pick. Something in the top 50 selections is likely the bare minimum to get Philadelphia’s attention. That’s a steep price for a lot of teams considering Brown’s salary and age, so a potential trade partner must either be looking for that last piece to get over the hump or have plenty of resources at their disposal. 

There are a few that come to mind. 

Buffalo Bills

Potential offer: 2026 1st (No. 26), plus mid-round swap

This is a big offseason for the Bills. They came up short in their pursuit of a Super Bowl yet again this past year, despite not having to contend with Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow or Lamar Jackson in the postseason. Buffalo fired HC Sean McDermott but held on to GM Brandon Beane, putting him under even more scrutiny. 

Beane infamously defended the way he had constructed the team’s receiving corps in an interview after the draft last offseason, with words that came back to haunt him as that group proved to be a major weakness all season. Beane struck out again when he tried to trade for help before the midseason deadline. While he did eventually add Brandin Cooks after he was cut in the second half of the season, the fact that Cooks became an important player at all says as much about the pickle the Bills were in as it does the 12-year veteran. 

It would be shocking if Beane did not do much more to address the receiver room this year, including getting QB Josh Allen that No. 1 target he hasn’t had since the team moved on from WR Stefon Diggs. Brown is a compelling potential target. Buffalo is looking to win now and doesn’t have time for a potential rookie to come up to speed. Their selection of Keon Coleman at the end of the first round a couple of years ago shows the potential pitfalls of this strategy. 

Brown would have less theoretical long-term potential than a rookie and be exponentially more expensive. However, for a Bills team that needs proven production, there’s a strong case to be made that trading for Brown would be a better use for the pick. 

New England Patriots

Potential offer: 2026 1st (No. 31)

One of the weaknesses exposed in the Super Bowl was a lack of a go-to playmaker for the Patriots’ offense, which had a prolific season by relying on a deep receiving corps that didn’t have that top-end talent. The big name is Diggs and he did top 1,000 yards receiving. He was primarily an underneath option, though. On the outside, the team relied on a combination of Kayshon Boutte and Mack Hollins. 

Boutte has had an admirable career arc and Hollins is one of the NFL’s great glue guys, but there’s no debating Brown as a massive upgrade over both. The last receiver the Patriots had who was in Brown’s zip code as a talent was Josh Gordon, and Brown’s closer to Randy Moss than he is to Gordon. He’s a big, powerful No. 1 wideout who can make life a lot easier for QB Drake Maye. 

There’s also a strong layer of familiarity between Brown and Patriots HC Mike Vrabel, who coached him for the first three years of his career with the Titans. In fact, Brown’s surprising exit may have been the first domino that led to Vrabel’s shocking Tennessee departure. It would be fitting for the two to reunite in New England; older, wiser, each with more skins on the wall, but each still chasing greatness. 

Denver Broncos

Potential offer: 2026 1st (No. 30), plus mid-round swap

The Broncos made more big changes than the teams that reach the semifinal round usually do, firing OC Joe Lombardi who had worked with HC Sean Payton in some form or another for 15 years. Lombardi said on the way out that Payton “was just in one of his moods” where he felt like he needed to make changes, and that could extend beyond the coaching staff. Payton was overall positive about Denver’s skill players on offense after the season ended but acknowledged they needed more playmakers. 

Brown would certainly fit the bill. In some ways, he’s similar to Broncos WR Courtland Sutton as a big-bodied receiver who is dangerous in contested situations and down the field. He has a lot more dimensionality to his game, however. From a talent and skillset perspective, Brown is much more in line with past Payton top targets like Michael Thomas and Marques Colston. Payton loves players he can dictate one-on-one matchups with, and Brown is that type of player. 

Payton also has a history of being aggressive with big trade swings. With Denver squarely in a Super Bowl window while QB Bo Nix is still on a rookie contract, it would not be surprising to see him line up another one of those swings. 

Pittsburgh Steelers

Potential offer: 2026 1st (No. 21) for Brown and a 2027 3rd; or 2026 2nd (No. 53) and 2026 4th (No. 135, comp)

The Steelers have been looking high and low over the past two years for receivers. They struck out on Brandon Aiyuk, landed D.K. Metcalf but then traded away George Pickens, leaving them searching for a running mate for Metcalf. All of this emphasis on the position was with the run-heavy Arthur Smith calling the plays, too. With new HC Mike McCarthy, the Steelers will be much more pass-heavy, emphasizing the need for a robust receiving room even more. 

While there will be no Brown and Smith reunion, the veteran still makes a lot of sense as a Steelers trade target. He was college teammates with Metcalf and both were drafted in the same class. McCarthy had a front-row seat to Brown’s dominance in the NFC East when he was coaching the Cowboys. If the Steelers do bring back QB Aaron Rodgers, then it will once again be a win-now season. Brown’s experience and talent make him far more likely to be productive for the irascible Rodgers than a rookie. 

From a draft pick perspective, the Steelers can also probably put the best pick on the table. Their selection comes at No. 21 overall in the first round. That would be a steep cost for Brown and the Steelers almost certainly would prefer to give up their second (No. 53 overall) instead. Either way, they have some pieces to work with, including 12 total selections. 

San Francisco 49ers

Potential offer: 2026 1st (No. 27) for Brown and a 2026 4th

Known for being an offensive juggernaut for the bulk of the past 10 years, the 49ers find themselves surprisingly short on weapons looking ahead to 2026. Aiyuk is toast in San Francisco and the team could also lose WR Jauan Jennings in unrestricted free agency. Star TE George Kittle will be working his way back from a torn Achilles from the January playoff loss to the Eagles. Right now, it looks like RB Christian McCaffrey, former first-round WR Ricky Pearsall (who has had health issues of his own) and not much else for the 49ers. 

Brown would change that in a big way. He’d fill a similar role in HC Kyle Shanahan’s offense that Aiyuk did — and before him, Brown’s idol Julio Jones in Atlanta. Brown excels against man coverage and on the dig routes attacking the middle of the field that Shanahan is great at drawing up and Purdy is great at throwing. 

The question the 49ers have to consider is whether they’re in a position to trade valuable draft capital for an aging and expensive player like Brown after shifting gears last year to try and retool. For that reason, San Francisco might prefer to keep their picks at No. 27 and No. 58 and try to address their need at receiver that way. Brown is good enough, though, that a trade can’t be ruled out.