Breer’s Takeaways: Path Is Clear for an A.J. Brown Trade to New England, But What Will Eagles Get In Return?

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A.J. Brown
Jayden Daniels
Minnesota Vikings
New York Giants
Matthew Stafford
Kansas City Chiefs
Las Vegas Raiders
Grass vs. Turf

Welcome to the new-look MMQB Takeaways. Our lead item (on Brendan Sorsby) and our quick-hitters are both separate from this, the main section of the Takeaways. …

A.J. Brown

The curtain is lowering on the A.J. Brown era in Philly. I guess something could change, but at this point, with months having turned to weeks to days and now just hours, it’d be a pretty big upset if Brown were not reunited with his head coach from Tennessee, Mike Vrabel.

With the much-discussed June 1 having arrived, the Eagles and Patriots have the framework for a deal that would send Brown to Foxboro ahead of his eighth NFL season. It’s not done, however; final details still need to be hammered out. But the sides have had a couple months to work through all this and bridge the initial gap between where the Eagles were, seeking a Quinnen Williams/Davante Adams type of return, and where suitors stood back then.

The idea of having a first-round pick not in 2026 or 2027 but 2028 goes all the way back to before the draft, when that pick was three drafts away. It’s a reasonable compromise on either side of the equation, given that, on paper, the player Philly would get with a 2028 first-rounder won’t be on the roster for another two full seasons. It’s also a pathway GM Howie Roseman has taken in the past to maximize the return he gets for a key player—he took a 2026 first-rounder from the Jets for Haason Reddick in March 2024.

That pick, for what it’s worth, just became Univ. of Miami OT Markel Bell, and effectively freed up the Eagles to use their slotted first-rounder to get Jaelan Phillips in November, then use the comp pick they got for Milton Williams to replace him with Jonathan Greenard.

Anyway, very clearly, the two teams have been operating as if this was coming for a while.

The Eagles signed WR Hollywood Brown to a one-year deal in March, traded for and extended Dontayvion Wicks and traded up to land USC star Makai Lemon in the first round. Add that to the fact that DeVonta Smith may have already become the Eagles’ No. 1 during the 2026 season and you have a pretty crowded receiver room even if you factor out Brown.

Meanwhile, the Patriots added a complementary weapon, Romeo Doubs, to replace Stefon Diggs on the depth chart, then did not pick a receiver in April after making young vet Kayshon Boutte very available during draft week. Boutte, incidentally, plays the “X” receiver position that Brown would move into in the New England offense.

Obviously, the Vrabel component of this deal is important. He was with Brown for his first three years in Nashville, has knowledge of the knee issue that initially made it tough for the Titans to extend him—which led to his 2022 trade—and knows who Brown can be as a leader and teammate. But the fit in Josh McDaniels’ offense is a piece of this, too, and an important one, and it’s fair to say the role Adams played for the Pats OC in Las Vegas is an easy comp.

Adams was targeted a staggering 180 times in 2022 and had 100 catches for 1,516 yards and 14 touchdowns that year for McDaniels.

I’d add, too, that no one is Philly is planning a parade. Brown, despite some of the friction and frustration with Jalen Hurts, was well-liked and considered a really good teammate. He played in two Super Bowls, won one, and after just four years is ninth in franchise history in yards (5,034), 13th in catches (339) and 12th in touchdown receptions (32). The trade that made him an Eagle will be remembered as a resounding success for Roseman and Co.

It’s just, for a lot of reasons, time for a change.

And, finally, after months of waiting, that time is almost here.

Jayden Daniels

I think Jayden Daniels is one of the NFL’s most interesting figures going into 2026. Last year, when I did my annual poll on who the league’s scouts and coaches believed would be the best quarterbacks at the end of the season, the Commanders QB was projected by the evaluators to become football’s fifth-best—behind the big four, way ahead of the rest.

It didn't quite work out that way.

Now Daniels has a new coordinator, a new scheme and a clean bill of health with which to try and reestablish the meteoric trajectory he was on at this time last year. So there are a few things worth knowing regarding the work he has done and the work Washington has done to try and get him back to where he seemed to be going in the summer of 2026.

Let’s dive in …

• First and foremost, Daniels is taking a lot of this upon himself, having banked a ton of hours getting stronger physically and more refined as a quarterback while working out in Orange County over the course of the offseason. There, he has worked with 3DQB trainer Taylor Kelly, who has been his personal coach the last couple years, and Kelly has worked in conjunction—including constant communication—with new Commanders OC David Blough. Kelly and Daniels drilled down on a lot of under-center footwork that Blough was planning to incorporate with the quarterbacks.

• Daniels also has brought teammates—Terry McLaurin, Dyami Brown and new acquisition Rachaad White—out to the Los Angeles area to get work in before the start of the team’s offseason program. (There are plans to have another players-only session before training camp, too, like they did last summer in Oregon.)

Jayden Daniels reportedly has looked good this offseason. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

• Within the first week of the offseason program, Daniels' added strength showed up in how explosive he looked, particularly in his lower body. And his ability to absorb the offense, similar to when he was a rookie under Kliff Kingsbury, was evident as well—and it manifested in how he could see a concept, carry it out then command it to the point where he was teaching it back to teammates. He was lletting his football instincts take over in the way he’d play it.

• That has allowed the coaches to install plays quickly. Blough’s system is influenced by Kingsbury, yes, but also has Ben Johnson elements from his time in Detroit, and McVay/Shanahan ideas from both his relationship with Matthew Stafford and his short run with Kevin O’Connell in Minnesota. Meanwhile, Anthony Lynn and Darnell Stapleton are pouring into the run game, David Raih is in on the pass game and Bobby Engram, Wes Welker and Andre Coleman are in on that, too, in working with the receivers and putting more option routes in.

• Daniel also has new quarterback coaches with D.J. Williams coming over from the Packers and Danny Etling, which adds to the thinktank that Blough is heading up.

So what’s it going to look like? Well, it’s tough to predict health—and that was a big part of the issue last year for Daniels, and will have to be a big part of the fix, if he is to rebound from 2025. That said, I’d expect the offense, at least on first and second down, to feature more under-center looks and a heavy emphasis on run-action and play-action, and an added ability to adjust and improvise, with a lot of the third-down stuff Kingsbury ran carrying over.

And the thought of Daniels as part of that, at least for me, is pleasing to consider.

Minnesota Vikings

The Vikings’ new setup, on paper, looks really good. Obviously, that goes only so far. But given the weird offseason the franchise just went through, coming out of all this with Nolan Teasley coming aboard from Seattle as general manager, Rob Brzezinski remaining as EVP of football operations after making a run at the GM job and Kevin O’Connell coming back for his fifth year as head coach is a really solid result.

It goes beyond, to me, just having good people in charge, too.

One thing ownership was very clearly looking for in the GM search was to set up their football operation in a self-sustaining way—because the Wilfs don’t live full-time in the Twin Cities, their GM job is a proxy to ownership in many ways, and they needed to ensure that the new guy in that seat would smoothly fit into this sort of structure. Brzezinski has been around since the 1990s. O’Connell has a bunch of pelts on the wall now, too.

So if Brzezinski was going to stay in a non-GM role, and if the Vikings were going to get the most out of having the highly regarded O’Connell, the new GM wasn’t just going to have to be a top evaluator and manager, he’d also need to be a fit. And I think Teasley is.

His story is an interesting one. He worked in business for six years after graduating college in 2007, before, in 2013, deciding to get back into football. His old teammate at Eastern Washington, Aaron Hineline, got him an interview for an internship with Seattle, he landed the job, and came up on the pro-scouting side of GM John Schneider’s staff.

Surely and steadily, Teasley rose through the ranks, taking advantage of Schneider’s inclusive and open process—he was in the draft room months into the job as an intern—that allows for young guys to absorb plenty as they go. He learned from Schneider and guys like Scott Fitterer, Dan Morgan and Matt Thomas, and eventually became part of the top layer, alongside guys like Matt Berry, Trent Kirchner and Hineline, of the GM’s operation.

Anyway, all that experience is a window into how I’d expect Teasley to set up the Vikings, with any silos broken down and good communication all the way up to ownership (which was a key for the Wilfs) at a premium.

I’d also say Teasley saw Brzezinski’s presence, even as he competed with him for the GM job, as one of the top draws of the position. The longtime Vikings exec’s institutional knowledge of the organization is unmatched—it even predates the Wilfs—and he also has been damn good at his job, all of which should allow for Teasley’s focus to be on assembling the team.

Structurally, I’m told that both Teasley and O’Connell will report directly to ownership. And while it remains to be seen if Brzezinski does, too, which would make for a Lions-type setup, Brezezinski’s decades-long relationship with the Wilfs makes that a lot less relevant.

Regardless of the particulars on all that, I think this is a win for Minnesota.

Teasley already has been in touch with O’Connell and Brzezinski, and will be back in town soon to catch the final couple weeks of the offseason program—the Vikings have OTAs this week, mandatory minicamp next week, and OTAs the following week for younger players—and get to know everyone a little better. He’ll then keep working through the break so he can hit the ground running when he gets to camp.

By then, the hope would be that the relationships the Vikings are projecting with this hire are in really good shape, even if the impact of Teasley’s hire might not be fully felt until we get to the 2027 offeason.

New York Giants

I think both Jaxson Dart and Abdul Carter handled the aftermath of their social media spat—if you want to call it that—well. Dart addressed it by saying he introduced Donald Trump out of respect for the office of the president of the country, considering it a “rare” opportunity he’d have jumped at regardless of which party was in office. Carter responded by saying he felt compelled to respond because of his fundamental problems with the Trump administration, while adding that didn’t mean he and Dart couldn’t work together.

I’m also not sure what surprised people here. Dart is Mormon, and from Utah, and went to school in Mississippi, so the idea that he might be of right-wing ideology shouldn’t catch anyone off-guard. Similarly, Carter is Muslim and from Philadelphia, so it does line up that he’d align with more of a left-wing train of thought.

Which brings me to what bothered me about the whole thing.

Almost immediately, assumptions were made that this was going to create irreparable harm to the Giants’ locker room. Like a 23-year-old quarterback and a 22-year-old pass rusher in the sort of melting pot that is an NFL roster couldn’t get past this sort of divide, after decades of the league showing how bonds could be built between the country boy and city kid, or the privileged suburban prodigy and inner-city tough guy within its ranks.

If that’s the case, it’s not just bad news for the NFL, it’s a pretty bad signal to where we are as a society.

So good for Dart and Carter for being able to move past it.

Matthew Stafford

We’ve got some more detail on Matthew Stafford’s deal here for you. Last week, we took you through the broad strokes of the Rams quarterback’s new contract.

Now we’ve got the nitty-gritty …

• In 2026, he has a $16 million base salary and a series of fourth option bonuses at $6 million each, which add void years (2031-34) to the contract. Those options bonuses are paid out like base salary and are fully guaranteed, bringing his total for the year to $40 million. There’s also a $5 million roster bonus due on the fifth day of the 2027 league year that’s guaranteed, and essentially part of his 2026 money.

• In 2027, he has a $10 million base salary, and a series of four $8.75 million roster bonuses, adding up to $35 million, which add void years (2035-38) to the contract and are paid out like base salary is. All of that becomes fully guaranteed on the third day of the 2027 league year, as does a $5 million roster bonus that’s due on the fifth day of the 2028 league year, which is essentially part of Stafford’s 2027 money.

• The 2028 dummy year has a $1.39 million base salary on it. But behind that is a $100 million year in 2029 that becomes fully guaranteed if Stafford’s on the roster on the 10th day of the 2028 league year.

So Stafford will either make $45 million for next year, plus up to $5 million in incentives, and retire; or $110 million over the next two years, plus up to $10 million incentives. That, of course, gives the Rams some runway with Stafford before they turn to Ty Simpson.

And Simpson’s presence, since the team doesn’t have to worry about finding a quarterback anymore, plus the fact that this deal spreads out the cap damage, does allow the team flexibility to move picks and money more freely to take a big swing should opportunity arise. Which, as I see it, serves the Rams for the future, and for the here and now in 2026.

Kansas City Chiefs

I think Patrick Mahomes subtly told you why Eric Bieniemy is back in Kansas City. It happened last week, when the Chiefs’ three-time Super Bowl champion was asked about his old OC’s return. And he may have popped a hamstring jumping into his thesis so fast.

“There’s a standard that you have to practice with and you have to play with,” Mahomes said. “He’s going to hold you to that standard, no matter who you are. From the first guy to the 90th guy right now, he’s going to hold you to that standard. I think that’s something , it’s hard to replicate; I think that’s the best way to say it. He has brought in a lot of concepts and a lot of things that I’ve really liked that we’ve added in now.

“It’s good to have him back in the building and having that energy back. A lot of these guys haven’t had an E.B. They understand it and honestly, I think it’s been cool. They’re really receptive of it. Even though it’s hard, there’s hard days, they know why we’re doing it. You can see the guys, and they want to be great, they want to be better than we were last year.”

Longtime Chiefs offensive coordinator is back on the Chiefs' sideline. | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

At the end of the 2025 season, there was a bit of a presumption that Bieniemy’s predecessor, twice over, and his successor was going to land a second shot at becoming a head coach. So with the idea that Matt Nagy was gone, Andy Reid chose to use the OC title to try to lure Bieniemy back, as much to re-establish a hard line of accountability for a team that he thought needed more of it going into 2026. By the time it became clear Nagy wasn’t getting his shot, the Chiefs were way down the line with Bieniemy, and now he’s there.

The offense, as I see it, is the offense. Nagy did a really good job with it, and Bieniemy’s been in the role before, and has Reid with him.

As such, his impact might be a little more subtle to the untrained eye.

But it's needed, nonetheless, especially if you listen to what his best player is saying.

Las Vegas Raiders

If you want to know about Fernando Mendoza’s fit in Tom Brady’s Las Vegas, all you have to do is listen to what the Raiders OC said last week. Here it is …

“He’s a guy that wants to come in and grind every day, work,” GM Andrew Janocko said. “All three of those guys (Mendoza, Kirk Cousins, Aidan O’Connell) come in every single day and want to work, they want to learn, they want to be the best in the world. He’s got two guys in the room with him that just set an unbelievable example with the way they work, the way they prepare. So he’s able to see that and grow within himself.”

From the very beginning of the pre-draft runup, back in January, those who’d scouted the Heisman winner, and got to be around his Indiana team, seemed to agree on this—Brady would identify with Mendoza, a guy who had to fight to get the attention of the NFL, and one who’d leave no stone unturned in finding a way to accomplish that.

I bet if you asked Brady what he’d look for in a top quarterback, it wouldn’t take long before he got to those sorts of qualities in the player. And Mendoza clearly has them in spades.

He was also well-known in Bloomington for bringing teammates along with him in that regard.

Of course, in the pros, you gotta prove you can play before you start doing that. We’ll see soon enough whether Mendoza can.

Grass vs. Turf

Nick Bosa is right about the grass/turf argument. The 49ers star was asked last week about all the NFL teams that are going to natural grass now to fulfill FIFA requirements ahead of the World Cup, with plans to go right back to artificial turf afterward despite the players’ insistence they prefer the real stuff. Bosa’s answer was one I could appreciate.

“Yeah, it’s a little bizarre,” he said. “But what can you expect?”

Bosa has been one of the NFL’s more unspoken players on the quality of fields across football, and was also one of the first to call teams out for going to grass for soccer players, but not the guys the stadiums were built for. His answer this time, I’d say, reflects his frustration.

He has every right to be frustrated, too.

NFL stadiums have become too expensive to justify only playing football games within their walls. Everyone gets that. But the world has shown us that, with enough investment in time, money and care, a team can maintain a grass surface.

And yes, the NFL has some cooked numbers to tell players what they’re feeling is false. Here’s the smoking gun for you: NFL coaches, who pipe crowd noise in to simulate stadiums, have players carry tennis rackets and practice to simulate long-armed edge rushers and even have guys line up offsides in practice to simulate speed, all hold every practice they possibly can on grass. That’s even in weeks when their teams play on turf.

Why do you think that is? Why is it that the coaches, who prepare for the most minute details ahead of games, wouldn’t practice on the surface they’re going to play on that week?

Here’s a hint: The obvious answer is the correct one.

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