Amen Les. I cannot get my head around fans being pleased about this trade? He’s an absolute beast, and the first player opposing DC’s have to plan for. Now he’s not here. And people are pleased?! I don’t get it. We got worse and the Rams got better today, how is this a good thing?

On that 2028 1st round pick;
1) AJ Brown sure looked like he was slower and dropped more passes than seen before (just because he was pouting?) How will he play in 2027?
2) Vrabel and Russini (since you brought her up) ; why isn’t that a fire-able ( er I mean suspendable given R Kraft owns the deflate-gate team) offense for Vrabel ? The natural presumption was Russini was feeding him info on the Patriots opponents every week last year

I think that 2028 1st rounder has a decent chance to be a non-playoff team 1st rounder.

Roseman had to do it, it was forced on him by Brown.
He got as much as he could, probably a bit more than expected
Yes, on paper Eagles are worse but don’t you think Brown would have been disruptive this year for the Eagles if he wasn’t granted his wish?
Doesn’t the lack of ugly drama negate some of the “on paper” loss of talent?

I agree with much of this, but there’s no reason not to assume some regression from the Rams and Stafford simply because no one should expect another MVP season. And that’s ignoring the back issues. On the flipside, it’s perfectly reasonable to expect massive improvements offensively from the Eagles simply because it would be hard to be less efficient and effective than they were last season. Rams are great on paper right now, but Roseman has done a tremendous job filling every and any roster hole.

And the Rams are one Stanford back injury (not a far reaching possibility) from imploding. Not so fast, Les…let’s see how this season pans out on the field, not on paper.

Although AJ is (was?) a terrific player, he has been a nonstop distraction for the Birds almost since Day 1 and anyone who has spent time as a player in a locker room knows the elimination of that kind of distraction is a huge lift for their team. Nice job Howie…Go Birds…yes, in 2026!

2025 AJ Brown was not 2022-2024 AJ Brown. This is likely due to multiple reasons and 2026 AJ Brown on the Eagles probably wouldn’t be much better if at all.

There’s a lot of “in a vacuum” analysis of Brown and how it affects the Eagles like we’re playing Madden. He made odd comments after his good games last year. His best stretch, 3 games of 100+ yards and 3TDs was the Eagles worst stretch of the season. The offense averaged 18.3 ppg.

He came up very small in the playoffs.

If he was totally bought in, sure the claim that the 2026 Eagles got worse can be made with confidence.

I don’t see how it can be made so absolutely given a broader context.

What’s the point to write an article to cry? This is lazy as hell. This is the best content phly can produce? Like wtf are we paying for?

Chris Long made some good observations when he went over the trade yesterday. He’s pretty astute about both sides of the trade. One reason the Eagles didn’t net more in the trade is tied to Philly sports and social media. Reporters, columnists, and fans exacerbated the situation both by laying an assault on Brown and making talks of the trade a forgone conclusion–thus taking away some of Roseman’s leverage and negotiating power. Absent the media drama, Roseman would have been in a better situation to dictate more favorable terms.

But it’s done. Almost complete pending the physical. But the Brown the Patriots get is not the Brown the Eagles would have had. Call it the honeymoon season. Call it the revenge tour. What is worth noting is Brown basically quit on the Eagles halfway through the season. By the end he was dropping passes because he didn’t care and wanted out. To say it was intentional is one thing, but he was definitely apathetic. Patriots won’t be getting that guy. He has something to prove.

If the Eagles kept him? If Roseman didn’t trade him? He would not be the guy the Patriots are getting. He’d be the apathetic, demoralized guy who referred to last season as a sh*t show–and he would be an even bigger problem or source for drama (which is *great* if you’re a reporter). Subtraction of a negative is a positive. Eagles prepped by stacking themselves with WRs with hopes some of these guys perform at or above expectations.

It won’t replace AJ Brown circa 2022-2024, but it will be better than Brown 2025 and whatever he may have been if he stayed with the Eagles. In that context, the Eagles are a better team. Guys who want to play here tend to perform better than guys who want out (and are willing to tank their performance to get themselves the fastest ticket out of town).

More? Guys absent the ego means a stronger willingness to accept the idea they won’t be 100 reception, 1000+ yard receivers, which frees up Hurts to spread the ball more without upsetting a big prima donna. The big question is if Hurts embraces the new scheme and can spread the ball accordingly. The fact Brown was go-to for 2 years was a clutch. Progressions was Brown-Smith-Goedert-3rd WR. This changes things a bit. Makes me more curious to see if Johnny Wilson has used the year off to improve, because that could be a game-changer.

I get it and I agree. But I wonder how much of this is Howie telegraphing that he’s not sold on this exact team this exact year. Whether or not they could have maximized AJ this year in the new scheme, I’d argue that the bigger dependency is how Jalen acclimates to it. So with all of the AJ baggage, and the unlikely possibility that he would come back and be as happy/productive, isn’t it best to maximize the opportunity for future assets? Beyond that, with Nick being a culture setter that clearly didn’t sway the situation this past season, in the event you need to clean house (maybe with Manion growing into something more), be prepared. Two timelines, right?

A J Brown made it a non-winnable situation. Had the Eagles kept him, he would not have been the star he’s been in the past. He will be so with the Pats, at least this season. Brown said it all after the 2024 SB win; he didn’t feel the way he thought he ought to feel. He wants to win, but he wants to do it by being the star, the MVP, by carrying the team to the win. Like it or not, that’s what he said, and I appreciated the honesty.
However, A J was right that 2025 was a shit show, and not because of him. I’m not going to repeat all the reasons why, but it added to his discontent. Will the Eagles be worse off? Not really. A competent receiver will replace what A J was for us, and with the need to feed him gone, and a clear #1, the offense should be good, provided the OL is healthy this year. Besides, the D should be awesome.

I know AJ started wishing to be a Patriot long ago, but Patullo’s stagnant offense last year magnified that wishing into less than stalwart effort on the field and a trade demand. I put the ultimate blame on Siriani for promoting his buddy to OC. Patullo wasted a lot of talent.