Chad Graff of The Athletic, citing league sources, reports the Patriots are expected to be “active” in trade discussions for Eagles WR A.J. Brown.
Graff’s sources indicate that they expect New England to cut veteran WR Stefon Diggs this offseason, unless they can lower his cap hit from $26.5 million in 2025.
Should the Patriots move on from Diggs, Graff writes to expect them to “kick the tires” on Buccaneers WR Mike Evans or Colts WR Alec Pierce, and potentially pivot to trading for Brown or picking a wide receiver early in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Brown has had loads of trade speculation surrounding him since the deadline last season, but there wasn’t any movement on a deal as of earlier this month.
Eagles HC Nick Sirianni was directly asked if Brown will be back next season, which he wouldn’t guarantee, like anything else going into next season. He cited GM Howie Roseman’s earlier comments about keeping good players, and mentioned there is mutual interest in keeping Brown in Philadelphia.
“Will A.J. be here next season? I think we’re still in a spot, like, I can’t guarantee how anything is going to play out into next season. I’m thinking I’m going to be the coach next season but you can’t guarantee anything past tomorrow,” Sirianni said, via ESPN’s Tim McManus.
“As Howie said, it’s hard to get good players in this league. A.J.’s a great player and A.J. is a good teammate and A.J. is a good person. Does he want to be here? Yes. Do I want him to be here? Yes.”
Despite Roseman’s praises of Brown, he feels they wouldn’t be doing their job if they didn’t listen to offers going into the new league year.
“I think you go into the league year listening to offers for everything and anything,” Roseman said. “If someone is going to give you something you didn’t anticipate and you won’t even have the conversation, I don’t think you’re necessarily doing your job or really servicing the team you’re with.”
“You never know what someone is willing to do. Certainly, we’ve been in situations where there were guys we didn’t anticipate trading that we got an offer that was too good, and then you balance it with what you can get there.”
Brown, 28, is a former second-round pick of the Titans back in 2019. He was entering the final year of his four-year, $5,506,368 rookie contract before the Titans traded him to the Eagles for a first and third-round pick.
He then re-signed with the Eagles on a four-year, $100 million contract that included $57 million guaranteed.
However, the Eagles later signed Brown to a three-year, $96 million extension that includes $84 million guaranteed.
In 2025, Brown has appeared in 13 games for the Eagles and caught 64 passes for 840 yards and seven touchdowns.
We’ll have more on Brown and the Patriots as the news is available.
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