Why the 'entire league' is waiting for the A.J. Brown-Patriots trade
Yahoo Sports host Andrew Siciliano, senior NFL reporters Charles Robinson & Jori Epstein and senior NFL writer Frank Schwab discuss why the trade is expected by many insiders around the league to be all but a ‘done deal’. Check out the full conversation on “Inside Coverage” on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , YouTube or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
See, Rob, at this point it would be an upset, right?
If AJ Brown is not traded to the Patriots likely early next week.
Yeah, I mean, absolutely.
And it's not, this isn't a matter of media opinion.
I mean, the entire league right now, any team you talk to is just waiting for the AJ Brown trade to ultimately happen, and, it makes I- it would make no sense at this stage for the New England Patriots to not bring AJ Brown in.
I mean, the way that the offense is structured at this point, the off- the way the off-season moves were made, has set the floor for AJ Brown, to be a New England Patriot.
I think the only way this could potentially change, and I mean, it would have to be a complete implosion, would be if Howie Roseman, the general manager of the Philadelphia Eagles, says, "Okay, well, you know, Dontayvon Wicks now, you know, we acquire this guy and he's not showing up for organized team activities."
Is that something that balloons into an availability issue?
A, you know, is, is this a contract issue?
Like, is he going to be here?
But even then, look, they drafted Mekhi Lemon, you know, Eli Stowers.
Even the, the Eagles have gone about structuring, their offensive pieces around Jalen Hurts, to facilitate a- an AJ Brown trade.
And by the way, it also makes sense for them financially to get him off the books after June 1st.
So I just don't see any way, shape, and form this, this doesn't happen, unless, again, something happens on the Eagles' end to suddenly change the matrix of, of a deal getting, pushed through.
Yeah, I completely agree.
I think that it would be maybe not Max Crosby level surprising if this deal didn't go through, but not that far behind.
I mean, it's definitely the expectation when I text people around the league, it's, "Yeah, I, I think it's a done deal at this point."
Right.
I mean, it's not a sign, seal, delivered deal because as C Rob said, there's that post June 1st deadline that for the Eagles, it's not that they'll get to take a different salary cap hit, but they'll get to spread it across two years rather than one, and that's something they've wanted for a while given they play pretty much every contract gymnastics that a team can.
And so there's not a lot of flexibility left.
I think when you look at the Patriots, I mean, yes, AJ Brown would be helpful in the field, and quite frankly, for the Patriots to have a positive football story this time of the year, I think they will be thrilled to have that.
