The Philadelphia Eagles are stuck between a rock and a hard place with A.J. Brown. He's one of the best wide receivers in the game and is still in his physical prime, but his actions make it loud and clear that he's not happy in the City of Brotherly Love.
That said, he's still under contract through the 2029 season, and there's no financial incentive to trade him before June 1; that would only cost the Eagles $49 million in a dead-cap hit, per Over The Cap.
Considering that, it looks like GM Howie Roseman is just playing the long game and hoping to tame his wild character. As reported by ESPN NFL insider Peter Schrager, the Eagles aren't actively trying to move on from him.
The Eagles May Only Trade A.J. Brown for a Massive Haul
“He is not on the [trade] block by any means. They are not proactively trading AJ Brown, they are not shopping AJ Brown, but [Howie Roseman] will always have his phone line open," Schrager said on ESPN.
Trading for Brown was one of Roseman's legacy-defining moves. It gave the Eagles' already stacked offense yet another high-end weapon. He's one of the five best wideouts in the league, and even a down year by his standards would be a career year for other wide receivers.
It's hard to believe the Eagles will ever willingly give up on Brown. Roseman has repeatedly said all the right things about him and how he's never going to be in the business of trading away good players. That said, Brown has also shown that he can make life uncomfortable when he feels like it.
The production is enough to lead one to believe the wideout is not on the same page with Jalen Hurts anymore, which is far from ideal for any team's QB1 and top wide receiver. Brown's personality is one where he is going to tell it like it is, plain and simple, and the Eagles have had their fair share of dysfunction in the locker room already.
Philadelphia's front office replaced now-infamous offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo with Sean Mannion, and he might be hell-bent on making Brown a focal point of the offense again. Nevertheless, Hurts has glaring limitations as a passer, which present themselves when reading coverage, so Brown's issues in Philadelphia might run deeper than the offensive coordinator.
This team has enough weapons on offense to get by without Brown, who was an expensive decoy for most of the first half of last season. They certainly can't afford more distractions or outside noise. Right now, though, the coaching staff and front office don't seem ready to do what might be in their long-term best interests.