Dave Zangaro breaks down the trade that sends A.J. Brown to the Patriots
Dave Zangaro unpacks the long awaited trade that sends A.J. Brown to the Patriots.
Dave Zangaro breaks down the trade that sends A.J. Brown to the Patriots originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Video Transcript
It finally happened after months of speculation.
A.J.
Brown is going to the New England Patriots in a trade.
This was, of course, the rumored destination for a really long time.
It's the end of a saga that feels like it took a few years.
But ultimately, A.J.
Brown goes to the Patriots for a 2028 first-round pick and a 2027 fifth-round pick.
And you may look at that return and say that's not as strong as you were hoping, but the Eagles still get a future first-round pick.
That was important to them.
And ultimately, they lose A.J.
Brown, who was a really great player for this franchise for four seasons, over 5,000 receiving yards in those four seasons, got the two Super Bowls, won a Super Bowl here.
He goes down as one of the greatest receivers in franchise history.
But if you've been paying attention over the last year or so, you know that the relationship between Brown and the Eagles had seemingly run its course.
We heard from Jalen Hurts last week.
He talked about the respect he has for Brown and what those two were able to do together.
But he also did talk about A.J.
Brown in the past tense, letting you know that this is the way it was going.
So Brown goes to New England.
He's going to reunite with Mike Vrabel, his former coach from the Tennessee Titans.
And a fun side note to this, the Eagles actually go to Foxborough this summer for joint practices against the Patriots.
So that should be a lot of fun.
So A.J.
Brown is gone.
The Eagles are clearly not better without A.J.
Brown, but they've been preparing all offseason for this eventual trade to take place.
So Devontae Smith is now the wide receiver one in this room.
The Eagles have a ton of faith in him being that guy.
And after him, they drafted Makai Lemon.
They traded for Dontavion Wicks and they paid him a little bit of money.
They signed Hollywood Brown.
So they have a bunch of different pieces coming together in the Sean Mannion offense.
And none of them are A.J.
Brown.
We get it.
But the Eagles have been preparing for this.
It's not a happy day.
I don't know if it's a sad day.
I think it's a day of just finally reaching the finish point of a saga that took a really long time.
