The Hobby Impact on Eagles & Patriots Now That A.J. Brown Was Finally Traded
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We've all known it has been coming for weeks, but the Eagles and Patriots finally, mercifully, made it official that WR A.J. Brown is headed to team up with Drake Maye and the Patriots. It took a 2028 first-round pick and a 2027 fifth-round pick to get it done for the Patriots. So, how will this impact the hobby values of the key names involved?
The New England Patriots have acquired WR A.J. Brown in a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles. pic.twitter.com/4Y8akObjTz
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) June 1, 2026
In this article, we'll look at how the trade impacts a lot of the big names on both sides of the trade, with Brown leaving the Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, and DeVonta Smith on the Eagles and joining Drake Maye and Romeo Doubs on the Patriots.
The AJ Brown Market
Zooming out, you can see the market for Brown is up pretty big over the offseason during a time most players, especially not quarterbacks, don't really see much of an uptick. Certainly not up 43.72% over the offseason, and that includes a slight 3% downturn over the last week before the trade to New England.
To me, this suggests the market had been expecting this all offseason and reacting accordingly. We shouldn't see another 30%+ swing in the market, since it seems to have already been priced in. His market should rebound after being down last week, though.
The Hobby Impact on the Eagles Market
Unsurprisingly, Jalen Hurts has seen his market tank once the offseason hit. It happens a lot, but after a rough 2025 season and disappointing playoff matchup against the 49ers, Hurts has seen his market fall off a literal cliff.
It turns out RB Saquon Barkley has the exact opposite trajectory this offseason. He's seen some rather large sales this offseason, including a Gold Kaboom /10 and a Gold Downtown /10, both of which have been among his all-time top 20 sales.
WR DeVonta Smith doesn't have a Card Ladder index, but despite the market up for Brown and Barkley, there have not been many big sales for Smith this offseason. He's the most likely candidate to take over the WR1 role in Philadelphia and has had some monster games with and without A.J. Brown while in Philadelphia. It would stand to reason he's the biggest beneficiary of the trade.
The Hobby Impact on the Patriots Market
Drake Maye's Card Ladder index looks exactly how you would expect for a player who wasn't expected to make it to the Super Bowl and then had a dramatic drop-off after losing the Super Bowl. Maye's market is still up over 5% over the last six months, but has fallen off nearly 26% since the Super Bowl.
We've seen a couple of big sales of Tre'Veyon Henderson since he entered the league, but the biggest came this offseason after 2025 Topps Chrome released and his Debut Patch Autograph was pulled. The Prem1ere Patch sold for $12,000. Unfortunately, there is no index for Henderson or new WR Romeo Doubs, so there's not a ton of data to dig into outside of QB Drake Maye.
In general, I think the two biggest winners here are Patriots QB Drake Maye and Eagles WR DeVonta Smith. While Maye's market has cooled off after losing the Super Bowl, he needed a big-time weapon, and he finally has one in A.J. Brown. For Smith, he becomes the de facto WR1 in Philadelphia. While there is no index for Smith, he should be the biggest beneficiary as first-round rookie WR Makai Lemon comes along.
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Brendan has worked for various platforms, including The Washington Post, SB Nation, NBC Sports Washington, and more, covering everything from college basketball to fantasy football and betting. An avid collector as a kid, he got back into collecting in 2021 and is a dedicated soccer, football, and basketball collector.
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