No other potential trade has dominated NFL headlines this offseason like the rumored one between the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots, which would send wide receiver A.J. Brown to New England. Still, that remains just a rumor.
Eagles GM Howie Roseman was asked about that situation recently, though he didn’t seem thrilled about it, as he tried to douse the rumors.
“What do you think the odds are that I’m answering this question any different than I answered it anywhere else? Like really, do you think that’s 50 percent? Do you think it’s 75 percent? A.J. Brown’s an Eagle,” Roseman said.
It’s hard for Roseman to say anything different until an actual trade comes to fruition. It comes from, as NFL insider Ian Rapoport recently explained on The Insiders, just how unique a situation this saga has become.
Ian Rapoport Broke Down What This Means for the A.J. Brown Trade Speculation
GettyA.J. Brown
Generally speaking, trades happen well in advance of the NFL Draft because teams want to stockpile picks. The A.J. Brown trade is unique, though, as Ian Rapoport explained.
“It feels like every offseason there’s something that comes up where you’re like, ‘Wow, this has not really happened before in the NFL world.’ The most unprecedented situation,” Rapoport said. “That’s where we are with A.J. Brown. This is not a situation of teams saying, ‘The draft is coming. I’ve got to get my trade because I’ve got to get the picks.’ Or, ‘Okay, it’s not going to be this draft so I’m going to wait until right before the season because it’s going to be next year’s draft picks that are going to be traded.’ No. This is one where a trade, if it is going to happen, and certainly, there is a lot of evidence that eventually it is, would have to happen after June 1st.”
Rapoport explained that waiting to trade Brown makes sense to the Eagles on multiple levels, including financially. That’s just not normally how situations like this work out.
“Because of the salary cap ramifications for the Eagles,” Rapoport said. “It cuts the dead cap money in half, and the fact that the picks that you would be looking for would be 2027 draft picks, which is considered by many to most people to be a better draft, a deeper draft, and that probably is what the Eagles would want anyway.”
None of that is to say that a trade won’t happen. In fact, it probably will happen, according to Rapoport. The New England Patriots are still the favorites to land him, as a recent article from The Athletic reported sources around the league believed it was a matter of time before he was sent to New England.
“So, really, what has happened is we’re all just kind of standing around looking at each other and waiting for this trade that, in the end, probably will happen — at least, that’s what most people that I speak to believe,” Rapoport said. “It just can’t happen yet. So, you’re left having to awkwardly ask the GM, ‘Hey, you know this thing that we all know may or may not happen? Can I ask you about it in a different way?’ And he’s got to go, ‘No,’ but then answer it in a different way, anyway.”
Eliot Wolf Didn’t Shut the Door on the Patriots Trading for Brown
GettyPhiladelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown
Ahead of the NFL Draft, New England Patriots EVP of Player Personnel Eliot Wolf hosted a press conference. Unsurprisingly, the topic of A.J. Brown came up once again, though Wolf didn’t shut the door on making a move, even if they didn’t want to get into specifics.
“As far as players on other teams, going to keep the door open to anything that we think may improve our roster, whether that’s with the player you mentioned or other players,” Wolf said.
By all accounts, Brown would improve the Patriots’ roster. So, it’s hard to imagine that Wolf and the Patriots don’t want to see him land in New England. It’s just a matter of getting the right deal in place and waiting for the right time to make it.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post NFL Insider Ian Rapoport Shares Latest Insight into A.J. Brown Trade Saga appeared first on Heavy Sports.