Eagles' Trade for A.J. Brown was Contingent on Speedy Contract Negotiation
PHILADELPHIA – The Eagles’ offseason search for a wide receiver to play opposite DeVonta Smith was nothing but a series of dead ends.
Calvin Ridley? Suspended for the season.
Christian Kirk? Took the money and ran to Jacksonville.
Allen Robinson? Wanted to play for the Super Bowl champion Rams.
Robert Woods? Preferred the Titans.
Nobody wanted to play for a team that ran the ball more than 30 times a game.
Nobody wanted to play for an unproven quarterback in Jalen Hurts.
Undaunted, Howie Roseman finally found an option, trading for Titans superstar A.J. Brown as the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft unfolded on Thursday night.
The Eagles GM moved his 18th overall pick and one of his two third-round picks, No. 101, to Tennessee for Brown. Then he signed him to a new contract, a four-year deal worth $100 million with $57M guaranteed.
“Was it a priority to get a wide receiver?” said Roseman. “It was a priority to get the right players. This for us was the right player, this was the right fit. I can’t tell you we were going to definitely draft a receiver in the first round.
"We had some other players that we were looking at here. I think we felt like this particular player, this particular person, the fit was really good for what we had and what we were looking for.”
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The contract was the presumed sticking point in Nashville and a reason the Titans decided to trade a productive receiver who won’t turn 25 until the end of June.
Roseman said the deal wasn't made because of a run on receivers that began with the Falcons at pick 8 when they took Drake London then Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave, and Jameson Williams went at picks 9, 10, and 11. The Lions traded up to 11 with Washington in order to take Williams.
“The trade was contingent on us getting an extension, so something we were working on during the course of the draft,” he said. “We were just trying to balance finishing that and if we didn’t finish that making sure we also got the right players.
“It didn’t matter the receivers on the board for us, A.J. Brown was somebody that we had studied coming out and spent a lot of time on. We had a lot of love for A.J. Brown in that draft. Obviously, things went a different way in that draft.”
That was the 2019 draft when Brown to the Titans with the 51st overall pick. The Eagles took Miles Sanders two spots later then reached for J.J. Arcega-Whiteside at 57, four spots after taking Sanders.
The timing of the deal was challenging and came about quickly.
Roseman estimated it took between picks 12 and 15 for it to be nailed down, a span of about 30 minutes. The compensation had been agreed upon earlier in the day, but a source said Brown's agents wanted a deal in place before the Eagles hit the clock.
“It was getting tight,” said Roseman. “We were just trying to balance it all…We had a plan, so it wasn’t like anything was on the fly. We had a very detailed plan.
“I think the hardest part was just trying to balance it all and the thing that was going on and trying to be fair to the Titans as well. Obviously, they had to make a pick and get on the clock if we were to make this trade…This wasn’t like we had weeks to do, it really came about quickly here.”
Brown, who is 6-1, 226 pounds, has had two 1,000-yard seasons already in just three seasons in the league. He has 24 touchdowns.
Perhaps even better he and Hurts are good friends, spending a good part of the offseason working out together.
An injury last year, though, limited him to 13 games, but he still had 63 catches for 869 yards.
“I think when we trade for a player I think that’s one of the questions we try to answer ourselves and say why are they getting rid of him?” said Roseman. “…Obviously with all these players, contracts are a big issue. When you have a young quarterback like we do you can be a little bit more aggressive with contracts then maybe you can when you’re paying a quarterback.”
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The question now is, which Eagles WR will be the first one to collect more than 1,000 receiving yards in a season since Jeremy Maclin in 2014?
It will be either Brown or Smith and should happen in 2022.
“Really excited just to have him on this team,” said head coach Nick Sirianni about Brown. “He plays with great play strength. This is a strong man. He’s quick for a big guy, and he catches everything. Those are things that really stick out from his tape.
"There’s no projection there, it’s like this is what he’s going to be in the NFL, no, you’ve seen it and you’ve seen it for three years now.”
Sirianni saw Brown twice a year while he was with the Colts and Indy played the Titans twice because they are in the same division.
“He’s one of the stronger receivers in the NFL,” the coach said. “If you can’t catch the ball, you can’t play – and this guy catches everything. And so, we can see him on a lot of different routes that fit our offense, that uses that play-strength, that quickness.
"That’s where he’s so tough. You want guys that can win 1-on-1 matchups. And this guy has shown in the NFL that he will win 1-on-1 matchups.”
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
