The trade we were all waiting for once June 1 arrived finally happened.
It just happened to be the second blockbuster deal of the day.
The jaw-dropping deal between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cleveland Browns stole the headlines, but A.J. Brown is finally on his way to the New England Patriots. New England is acquiring the wide receiver — and reuinting him with former Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel — in exchange for a 2028 first-round pick, and a 2027 fifth-round pick.
Let’s hand out some grades.
Patriots’ trade grade for A.J. Brown deal
The Patriots made a dream run to Super Bowl LX, and while they fell short in that game against the Seattle Seahawks, the future is certainly bright in New England.
And it starts with quarterback Drake Maye.
Yes, New England rode an historically easy schedule to the Super Bowl, and those opponents helped Maye put up numbers that made him an MVP candidate, but when you strip away the numbers and look at how Maye played the position a season ago, you see a franchise quarterback regardless of opponent. Maye’s ability to attack the middle of the field, as well as downfield in the vertical passing game, stand out when you study him on film.
And those traits certainly show in the numbers as well. Take this chart from Next Gen Stats:
One may quibble with the use of NFL Passer Rating, but here you see a quarterback that had success attacking over the middle, and down the field. In fact, one of his weakest areas last year — over the middle in the 10-to-20 yard range — is an area of the field where Brown thrives.
Greg Cosell, the long-time analyst, had this to say when contemplating a potential acquisition of Brown by the Patriots:
“When motivated, A.J. Brown is still a higher-level wideout in the league,” said Cosell, the NFL Films and ESPN “NFL Matchup” analyst. “He’s as physical as they come. He can work between the numbers as well as any receiver in the game because of his size, hands, competitiveness and ability to catch through contact.
“While he is not a burner by any means, he does have a great feel for attacking corners’ leverage and blind spots, and therefore, at times, can be a vertical dimension.”
When New England released Stefon Diggs, they created a big vacancy in the wide receiver room. They fill that with Brown, who can be a ball-winner at every level of the field in New England’s offense. And with the Patriots, Brown finds an offense that, on paper, looks to feature the passing game ahead of the running game.
This deal makes sense for both player and team. So much sense, that we were all waiting for it to happen.
Eagles’ trade grade for A.J. Brown deal
The fact that everyone expected this deal to go down, means that Howie Roseman had some work to do.
Given the situation in Philadelphia — it was an open secret that there was frustration on Brown’s part with his usage in the Eagles’ offense — and the financial implications associated with a post-June 1 trade, the entire NFL world was waiting for this day, and this trade to arrive.
Throughout the process, there was a question over whether Roseman would get the first-round pick back in return for Brown. He was able to get that pick, but a 2028 first, and not a 2027 first.
So, while this was perhaps the best Roseman could have hoped for, it was not the deal Eagles fans were hoping to see.
Still, given the situation, and the fact that the Eagles were in this position, getting what they did for an unhappy player seems like a solid return.
