Eagles trade Brown to Patriots for 2028 1st-round pick

The Philadelphia Eagles traded three-time Pro Bowl receiver A.J. Brown to the New England Patriots for a 2028 first-round pick and 2027 fifth-round selection, the team announced Monday.

Brown will reunite with head coach Mike Vrabel in New England. Vrabel coached Brown from 2019 to 2021 with the Tennessee Titans before the club sent him to the Eagles for first and third-round selections.

“Playing for this city has been an honor, and I’m thankful for every moment I had in Midnight green,” Brown wrote in a farewell message to the Eagles on Instagram.

The trade had been rumored since the end of April. By facilitating the move on June 1, the Eagles can split Brown’s $43.45-million dead cap hit between 2026 and ’27.

New England will inherit the remainder of Brown’s contract, which includes $113 million over the next four seasons, according to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo. He’ll be under team control through the 2029 campaign.

Brown helped Philadelphia reach two Super Bowls and hoist the Lombardi Trophy during the 2024 campaign with a win over the Kansas City Chiefs. He recorded 339 catches for 5,034 yards and 32 touchdowns in 62 regular-season games across four years with the team.

However, the relationship between the Eagles and Brown soured during the 2025 season. He made multiple cryptic posts on social media and publicly called out his offense. The situation led Jeffrey Lurie to speak with Brown on the field during practice, at which point he reportedly told the team owner that he would stop airing his frustrations publicly.

Brown and head coach Nick Sirianni also had a viral sideline altercation during a loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

“When we looked at the totality of the circumstances and having the conversations we had with him, felt like where we were, where we were going, where he was, that if we could find something that kind of achieved our goals of getting a first-round pick going forward here in the near future, getting the money back to spend on other players on our team and other teams, and it was a win-win situation based on where he was and how he felt, we were open to that,” Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said of the trade, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Mike Reiss.

The Patriots will now have a new-look wide receiver room that also includes Romeo Doubs, whom the team signed to a four-year, $68-million deal in free agency. In 2025, Stefon Diggs became the first Patriots wideout to top 1,000 yards since Julian Edelman in 2019, but he was released in the offseason and remains unsigned.

New England reached the Super Bowl last year but ultimately fell to the Seattle Seahawks 29-13. The offense struggled in the postseason. It recorded just 78 net yards entering the fourth quarter in the Super Bowl.

Philadelphia made a slew of offseason additions to its wide receiver room this offseason in preparation for life without Brown. The Eagles signed Marquise Brown to a one-year deal, acquired Dontayvion Wicks from the Green Bay Packers, and moved up in the draft to select Makai Lemon out of USC with the 20th overall pick.

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