Eagles Trade A.J. Brown to Patriots Days Before Season Opener
A four-year partnership ends abruptly as Philadelphia reshapes its receiver room just ahead of Week 1.
The Eagles have traded wide receiver A.J. Brown to the New England Patriots, ending his four-year run in Philadelphia in exchange for two draft picks, including a 2028 first-round selection. The move comes just days before Philadelphia opens its season, reshaping the receiver room around quarterback Jalen Hurts. Brown lands in New England reunited with head coach Mike Vrabel, his former coach with the Tennessee Titans earlier in his career, giving the trade a real personal thread beyond the draft-pick return.
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Brown addressed the trade directly on the "7PM in Brooklyn" podcast, saying his relationship with Hurts had cooled in recent seasons — "not as close as we once were," though he denied any "bad blood" between them. DeVonta Smith, 27, and rookie first-round pick Makai Lemon are now expected to step into the top of Philadelphia's target share, while new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion is tasked with engineering bounce-back seasons from both Hurts, 28, and running back Saquon Barkley, 29, who ran for 1,140 yards last season even as the passing game around him stalled. Reaction inside the locker room was genuinely mixed rather than uniformly bitter — some teammates reportedly framed the trade as a real relief after months of uncertainty over Brown's status, while others were disappointed to lose a proven No. 1 target this close to kickoff.
Something's off. Hurts saw his production plummet as the entire Philadelphia offense looked like a shell of itself in 2025.— Mark Schlereth, three-time Super Bowl champion
The most probable outcome is that he bounces back, the Eagles' offense has a strong enough year to complement a great defense, and the team enters the postseason as one of the favorites to win the Super Bowl.— Dan Graziano, ESPN
Our take: trading your No. 1 receiver days before kickoff is a strange way to fix an offense that "looked like a shell of itself," and it puts real pressure on a rookie and a new coordinator to hit immediately. Barkley and a genuinely great defense buy Philadelphia real margin for error most teams don't have — but that margin isn't infinite, and a rookie receiver getting real reps for the first time in a Week 1 environment is exactly the kind of variable that can turn a close game either way. For Brown, the change of scenery reunites him with a coach who already knows how to feature him, which makes New England a genuinely fair landing spot rather than a pure salary dump.
Week 1 Prediction: Score, Spread & Player Prop
Eagles -5.5 home favorites at Lincoln Financial Field, per SI.com and CBS Sports.
Total sits at 44.5-45.5, with models leaning Under. Our pick: Eagles 24, Commanders 16 (Under).
Saquon Barkley OVER 89.5 rushing yards. With the receiver room in flux, expect Philadelphia to lean even harder on its most proven weapon in Week 1.
Odds and props reflect market consensus across DraftKings, FanDuel, and BetMGM as of this week — lines move, so check your own sportsbook before kickoff.
How Philadelphia's receiver room is resetting
Eagles trade A.J. Brown to the Patriots for two draft picks, including a 2028 first-rounder.
Brown discusses the trade publicly, addressing his relationship with Hurts on the "7PM in Brooklyn" podcast.
DeVonta Smith and rookie Makai Lemon step in as Philadelphia's top receiving options.
One era ends in Philadelphia, another begins for Smith and a rookie who just got promoted ahead of schedule.
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Sources: Bleacher Report, ESPN, NBC Sports Philadelphia, Pro Football Network