Eagles-Falcons Trade: Why Philadelphia is Making Changes to its Secondary

The Eagles traded safety Sydney Brown to the Falcons.

The Eagles are shaking up their secondary. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The Eagles and Falcons made a trade on Friday, with the Eagles trading safety Sydney Brown to the Falcons in exchange for a fourth- and sixth-round pick swap, the teams announced. The Falcons will send the No. 114 and No. 197 picks to the Eagles for the No. 122 and No. 215 picks as they acquire Brown.

A third-round pick out of Illinois in 2023, Brown has spent the past three seasons with the Eagles. Now, Brown heads to an Atlanta secondary featuring a strong safety duo in veteran Pro Bowler Jessie Bates III and exciting second-year safety Xavier Watts. As Marc Raimondi of ESPN notes, Brown could potentially fill in at nickel after the departure of Dee Alford in free agency and with Billy Bowman coming off a torn achilles injury. Either way, Brown certainly adds increased depth to the Falcons defense, which ranked 13th in passing yards allowed per game (200.4) in 2025.

The trade also signals another change to the Eagles defense and secondary. The Eagles drafted a pair of first team All-Pros to the secondary in corner Quinyon Mitchell and nickel Cooper DeJean in 2024. Over the past year, they’ve reworked the pieces to improve the group around those stars, including by trading Brown.

Brown never emerged as a consistent starter for Philadelphia. He started six games as a rookie before tearing his ACL late in the year. After Vic Fangio took over as defensive coordinator, he did not start any games in 2024 and only started three this past season. According to PFF, Brown earned a grade of just 58.1 in coverage this past season while seeing 122 snaps in coverage. (For comparison, starting safety Reed Blankenship saw 653 snaps in coverage in 2025.)

Trading Brown initially left the Eagles thin at the safety position, particularly after Reed Blankenship already departed for the Texans in free agency. It didn’t take long for Philadelphia to fill the void, however, as the team signed safeties Marcus Epps and J.T. Gray to one-year deals shortly after the trade. Epps returns after playing for the Eagles from 2019-22 and in 2025 while Gray joins after spending the 2025 season with the Ravens, Broncos and Buccaneers. Gray has been an All-Pro on special teams in the past, and is a candidate to take over Brown’s workload in that facet of the game.

The Eagles now have four safeties under contract for 2026 in Epps, Gray, Drew Mukuba and Andre’ Sam. Mukuba, a second-round pick in 2025, is the lone surefire starter of the four. The Eagles do have the flexibility to move Michael Carter II, who they acquired midseason from the Jets, to safety or to have DeJean slot in at the position. The Eagles will also have the opportunity to continue addressing the position in the second wave of free agency or in the draft next month.

Either way, the Eagles are clearly looking to upgrade the safety position after the 2025 campaign, when the Eagles ranked eighth in passing yards allowed per game and 14th in coverage, per PFF. No safety earned a mark of 60 or higher according to PFF’s coverage grades.

Along with the moves at safety, the Eagles have previously added corner Riq Woolen on a one-year deal as they look to bolster the CB2 position. The Eagles had a good defense last season, but they clearly feel they can get even better heading into 2026.

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