Report: The Eagles Expected a Lot More for AJ Brown Than What the Patriots Ended Up Giving Them

In the Boston sports media's relentless effort to convince their audience that everything they are happy about is actually terrible, even the Patriots adding AJ Brown has been deemed a catastrophe. Talk show hosts and football journos that have spent decades crying the buckets every time the Pats didn't get aggressive in the trade market to acquire a top-tier receiver to make life easier for their quarterback, and accused the Krafts of being too cheap to spend on high-end talent, have done a complete 180. Now that they've gotten exactly what their hearts have desired all these years, it's somehow reckless and irresponsible. Or it's not the way they've always done business, so now it's wrong. Even though the way they've always done business was also wrong, somehow. 

Find someone who loves you as much as any Boston radio host suddenly loves the end of the first round of the 2028 NFL Draft. And not someone who'll never stop bringing up your one big mistake and shoe-horning it into every conversation:

So now that we've got what we've always wished for, the Pats aggressively pursuing Pro Bowl talent at the skill positions, bringing AJ Brown to a WR room that had already added a 26 year old Romeo Doubs, we're expected to rend our garments and decry how terrible all this is because … wait for it … the price was way too high. We were told Howie Roseman got them to throw in a fifth round pick at the last minute, just because he could. Because the Patriots were desperate and didn't want this to drag on and turn into a public relations nightmare. Or something. Whatever the reason, the Patriots got hosed and we should all feel terrible about this. 

Which would be a nice little twist to the story. And keep those phone lines full during a gawdawful summer for the other three Boston teams. 

That is, if it weren't all complete and total horseshit:

Source -  The Patriots’ pursuit of A.J. Brown happened over time. Obviously for head coach Mike Vrabel, there’s a lot of background there, with the two having spent three years together in Tennessee. And for EVP of player personnel Eliot Wolf, this has been a while coming, too.

Wolf was assistant GM in Cleveland when, in 2018, he made a trip to Nashville during the Browns’ bye week to see Brown's Ole Miss squad play at Vanderbilt. … 

After Brown’s nine-catch, 212-yard effort—during which he broke the school’s career record for receiving yards—Wolf called his college scouting director and asked, “Are we sure this guy can’t play outside?” The rest, of course, is history. …

Anyway, all of it was part of the equation with the Patriots’ persistence on Brown, who they finally landed last Monday for a 2028 first-round pick and a 2027 fifth-rounder.

Now here’s the rest of the story …

• The Patriots have made a concerted effort, going back a few years now and particularly since drafting Drake Maye, of going after any top receiver who made noise about wanting to be traded the last few years. They went down the road on Brandon Aiyuk in 2024 with the Niners, but got shut down by Eagles GM Howie Roseman every time they checked in on Brown, including during the 2025 offseason and before the trade deadline in November.

• The first real conversation this year happened around the combine, and Wolf could sense a different tone from Roseman—the Eagles were willing do it, but preferred to go post-June 1, and they wanted a first-rounder and another high-end pick. Philly’s model had been the Quinnen Williams return the Jets got from Dallas. The Packers/Raiders Davante Adams deal from 2022 was another comp that was floated.

I'll interject here to add context. The Cowboys gave the Jets the higher of their two 2027 first rounders, a 2026 second, and DT Mazi Smith for Williams. In the Adams trade, the Raiders sent the Packers a first and a second, both in 2022. So the market of a one and a two for top wide receivers was firmly established. We continue:

• The Eagles then went down the road with the Rams on a trade that would’ve been centered on a 2028 first-rounder, a first-rounder that, at the time, would’ve been three drafts away. …

• Wolf had told Roseman, at one point, “If you get a 1 and a 2, go ahead and do it.” But the Patriots never lost interest, with a dozen people who were with Vrabel in Tennessee vouching for Brown, and character crosschecks Pats people were doing with folks who’d been with Brown in Philly checked out, too. What stood out about Brown, even with all the drama he was tied to, was how he was described as a competitor, an alpha and a football junkie.

• Roseman and Wolf didn’t meet face-to-face at the owners meetings in Arizona, but right around then, they picked talks back up. Roseman reiterated he’d need a first. Wolf was still unwilling to move his 2027 first-round pick (he was willing to part with a 2027 second-rounder). So they started to discuss making a 2028 first-rounder the focus of a deal, just as the Eagles had with the Rams. …

• By the draft in April, there was a level of confidence on both ends that a deal was coming. The Eagles told the Patriots they wanted a 2027 pick as well, but they were comfortable with the first-rounder coming in 2028. As such, the Eagles moved to replace Brown in trading up and selecting Makai Lemon in the first round. Meanwhile, the way the Patriots viewed the receiver class, their value wasn’t matching up with how the players were coming off the board—so knowing Brown was likely on the way, they didn’t spend a pick on the position at all.

• By mid-to-late May, the deal was essentially hammered out. Whereas the Eagles wanted the second pick involved to be on the higher end with the Patriots initially offering a 2027 seventh-rounder to go with the 2028 first-rounder, there was a logical landing spot in the middle that everyone knew was workable. So they resolved to finish talks on June 1.

tl;dr: This trade of a 2028 first and a fifth next year came about like every other negotiation in human history. Wolf and Roseman haggled. The very, very old fashioned way:

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Wolf was willing to give a second. Roseman wanted a first and a second. Wolf told him to go ahead and make the deal if he could get that. He couldn't. Wolf said he'd sweeten his offer to a 2028 first. Those terms were acceptable. Roseman also wanted that second. Wolf offered a seventh. They met in the middle. Everyone walks away with the best deal they could get. In spite of what you're hearing in Boston and in Philly:

By the time the Eagles are enjoying the return on that 2028 pick investment, Brown will be entering his third season in New England. Maybe even his fourth, assuming Philly doesn't land a plug-and-play starter in what will likely be the back end of Round 1. That remains to be seen. 

What is not in dispute is Wolf and Vrabel have wanted Brown for a long time. This wasn't some impulse purchase. It wasn't done to take the public's mind off of other things. It's been a long time coming. Both teams built their draft strategy around the deal getting done. The Pats did their due diligence on Brown's knee and his time in Philly. And knew they wanted this guy who's "a competitor, an alpha and a football junkie." And got him at the lowest price Roseman was willing to go. 

And the one thing we know for sure is no one in the NFL outside of New England is happy this trade got done.

This is their worst nightmare. And it won't take long for the world to realize Brown for a first and a fifth was a steal.