A divorce between A.J. Brown and the Philadelphia Eagles has seemed inevitable because of the wide receiver's frustration with the offense last season stemming from his lack of consistent targets in the passing game.
The Eagles reportedly had trade discussions about Brown with the Los Angeles Rams in March as free agency approached. Brown has been absent from Philadelphia's voluntary offseason workout program, which started on April 20, amid the trade speculation.
The Eagles have operated as if Brown's days in Philadelphia are numbered. They acquired Dontayvion Wicks from the Green Bay Packers in April before the NFL Draft for a 2026 fifth-round pick and a 2027 sixth-round pick. In connection with the trade, the wide receiver signed a one-year, $12.5 million contract extension running through the 2027 season worth up to $14.75 million thanks to salary escalators. Philadelphia also moved up three spots in the first round to select USC wide receiver Makai Lemon with the 20th overall pick.
How Brown's contract works
Brown received a three-year, $96 million extension in 2024 averaging $32 million per year, even though he had three years remaining on his contract, to reflect changing conditions in the wide receiver market.
The Eagles used one of the NFL's most complex contract structures with Brown. The deal contains five option bonuses tied to five void years from 2030 to 2034. Those void years allow Philadelphia to spread Brown's option bonuses across additional seasons for salary-cap purposes before the contract automatically voids in February 2030.
NFL teams can prorate option bonuses over as many as five years, including void years. Because of that, the Eagles structured Brown's contract under the assumption those option years would count toward the salary cap even though Brown was never expected to play under them.
Brown has $113 million remaining over the four years left on his contract, which expires after the 2029 season. He is scheduled to make a fully guaranteed $29 million this year consisting of a $28.75 million base salary and a $250,000 workout bonus. The Eagles currently have Brown with a $23,393,496 cap number for 2026. Brown's 2027, 2028 and 2029 salaries are $21 million, $32 million and $31 million. Just $4 million of Brown's 2027 compensation is fully guaranteed. The rest of the money is unsecured.
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Why June 1 matters
The optimal time for the Eagles to trade Brown is after June 1 when the salary cap ramifications become more favorable. By waiting until June 2, the bonus proration from Brown's 2027 through 2029 contract years won't accelerate onto Philadelphia's 2026 salary cap under NFL salary cap rules. That bonus proration would instead become a 2027 cap charge.
Trading Brown prior to June 2 would increase Philadelphia's 2026 cap charges for Brown by $27,161,609 because of the bonus proration from his 2027 through 2029 contract years accelerating forward. That would have been too cost prohibitive considering the Eagles currently have $26.286 million of 2026 cap space, according to NFLPA data.
The Eagles are going to have $21,843,496 in 2026 dead money (a salary cap charge for a player no longer on a team's roster), resulting in $1.55 million in 2026 cap savings by trading Brown after June 1. The $5.49 million of option bonus proration in 2026 for this year's option should remain a Philadelphia cap charge, even though the exercise period ends a day before the team's first regular-season game of the 2026 season, rather than the 2026 cap savings being $7.04 million. The deadline date will be Sept. 8, Sept. 9, Sept. 12 or Sept. 13 depending on where Brown is dealt.
This type of cap treatment occurred with the San Francisco 49ers because they traded wide receiver Deebo Samuel to the Washington Commanders last year prior to exercising a 2025 option for a future voiding contract year. Philadelphia will get a $5.49 million cap credit in 2027 with this option bonus proration staying as a 2026 cap obligation.
Since the Eagles should receive the cap credit next year, the net dead money in 2027 will be $21,671,609 instead of $27,161,609. That's $1,034,198 less than Brown's current $22,705,807 cap number with the Eagles. Brown will come off Philadelphia's books starting in 2028.
Brown's trade value
The Eagles are reportedly looking for at least a first-round pick in exchange for Brown. The Tennessee Titans traded Brown to the Eagles during the 2022 NFL Draft for a 2022 first-round pick (18th overall) and a 2022 third-round pick. Brown was 24 when that trade occurred. He turns 29 on June 30. Presumably, the acquisition cost won't be as high this time because Brown is older.
Wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, who is 27, was acquired by the Denver Broncos along with a 2026 fourth-round pick for a 2026 first-round pick (30th overall), a third-round pick and a fourth-round pick in March. Philadelphia's worst-case scenario should be DK Metcalf-type trade compensation. The Steelers traded the equivalent of a second-round pick to the Seattle Seahawks for Metcalf in March 2026 and also gave him a four-year contract extension averaging nearly $33 million per year.
Metcalf was Brown's teammate in college at Ole Miss. He went 13 picks after Brown was taken in the second round (No. 51 overall) in the 2019 NFL Draft.
The New England Patriots are the leading candidate for Brown because of his connection to head coach Mike Vrabel and their lack of a true No. 1 wide receiver. Vrabel was Brown's head coach during his three years with the Titans from 2019 through 2021. In addition to the Patriots and Rams, Brown's preferred trade destinations are the Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers.
The Rams are unlikely to revisit a Brown trade, while the Bills don't have a wide receiver need after acquiring DJ Moore and a 2026 fifth-round pick from the Chicago Bears for a 2026 second-round pick in March.
What Brown's new team would inherit
The acquiring team would assume the remainder of Brown's contract, including the right to exercise the 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029 options.
The new team would have a $6.79 million cap hit for Brown in 2026 consisting of $5.49 million of option bonus proration from the $27.45 million option bonus and his $1.3 million base salary, assuming the dummy/voiding 2031 contract year is picked up.
Brown's 2027, 2028 and 2029 cap numbers would be $10.996 million, $17.883 million and $23.591 million primarily because of the respective $19.405 million, $29.36 million and $28.315 million option bonuses in 2027, 2028 and 2029.
The acquiring team may want to rework Brown's contract into a more conventional structure. Unless that happens, Brown's new team will have to contend with $53.52 million in dead money in 2030 relating to the bonus proration in fake/dummy years from the 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029 option bonuses with the voiding occurring that February.
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