A.J. Brown Trade Fallout with Patriots & Eagles Updated Depth Charts, Draft Picks, Salary Caps

Finally.

The Philadelphia Eagles officially traded A.J. Brown to the New England Patriots on Monday for a 2028 first-round pick and a 2027 fifth-rounder, ending one of the longest sagas of the offseason.

Here are the salary cap implications of the transaction:

As for each team's updated depth chart at wide receiver, the Eagles will look something like this:

• WR1: DeVonta Smith
• WR2: Dontayvion Wicks
• Slot: Makai Lemon
• Depth: Hollywood Brown, Darius Cooper, Elijah Moore, Johnny Wilson

As for the Patriots, Drake Maye's new arsenal of wideouts will have the following look:

• WR1: A.J. Brown
• WR2: Kayshon Boutte
• Slot: Romeo Doubs
• Depth: Mack Hollins, Kyle Williams, DeMario Douglas

The Eagles are banking pretty heavily on Smith emerging as a true No. 1, Lemon hitting the ground running as a rookie and Wicks living up to his enticing potential, something that never quite materialized in Green Bay.

There is also the belief that a new offensive scheme under first-year offensive coordinator Sean Mannion will make the offense more dynamic and less predictable. And of course, an improved run game will help. The Birds of 2024 were a force of nature in the run game, while last year they were more pedestrian.

There's also the fact that Brown was unhappy last year and wasn't shy about that fact, becoming a national story in the process. It's hard to imagine the team was thrilled about how he handled his unhappiness with the offense.

Brown was a cheat code in many ways for Jalen Hurts and the Birds—when in doubt, throw it up and let him make a play down the field—but the offense was incredibly stale in 2025. That partly came down to the route trees becoming overly simplistic, with a disproportionate amount of go routes and hitches.

But the Patriots very much could use a cheat code for young quarterback Drake Maye, who didn't have many dynamic weapons at his disposal in 2025. If Brown is at his best—and given that he's 29 and certainly wasn't at his best last season, that isn't a guarantee—he should dramatically improve New England's offense.

It was probably time for the Birds and Brown to part ways. It was time for the Patriots to upgrade Maye's arsenal. Ultimately, this trade feels like a win-win.