Eagles Trade A.J. Brown to Patriots for 2028 First-Round Pick and 2027 Fifth-Rounder

J. Brown to the New England Patriots for a first-round draft pick in 2028 and the better of New England's two fifth-round selections in 2027. The deal ends months of speculation and reunites Brown with Patriots coach Mike Vrabel, who coached him with the Tennessee Titans.

Brown, who turns 29 on June 30, posted a statement on Instagram thanking the Eagles and their fans. "Playing for this city has been an honor, and I'm thankful for every moment I had in midnight green," he wrote. Brown gives Patriots quarterback Drake Maye a top receiving option alongside free-agent addition Romeo Doubs.

The Patriots also inherit Brown's contract, which runs through the 2029 season at an average of $32 million per year, the seventh-highest annual value among NFL receivers. The Eagles had prepared for the departure throughout the offseason. They traded up in the first round of the 2026 draft to select USC receiver Makai Lemon, acquired Green Bay Packers receiver Dontayvion Wicks, and signed Hollywood Brown and Elijah Moore as free agents.

By completing the trade on June 1, Philadelphia can divide Brown's $40 million salary-cap charge between the 2026 and 2027 seasons. Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said the team weighed multiple factors before agreeing to the deal. "I think that 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," Roseman said.

Brown was selected by the Titans in the second round of the 2019 draft. Since then he ranks fourth in the NFL with 8,029 receiving yards and fourth with 56 touchdown catches. He and Cincinnati's Ja'Marr Chase are the only two players to record at least 1,000 receiving yards and seven-plus touchdown catches in each of the past four seasons.

Brown set Philadelphia franchise records with 1,496 receiving yards in 2022 and 1,456 in 2023. Tensions had increased in recent years. Brown's frustrations with the Eagles' offense grew during the 2024 and 2025 seasons, and he declined to speak with the media late in the 2025 campaign.

In mid-November 2025 he met with Eagles CEO Jeffrey Lurie and pledged to stop complaining publicly. The trade leaves Philadelphia without its former top receiver while giving New England a proven No. 1 option at the position.