A.J. Brown trade: 4 potential destinations after Nick Sirianni’s surprising comments

A down season, a sideline spat, and now A.J. Brown has reached the end of the road. Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said he “can’t guarantee” that Brown will return to the team in 2026, which is about as clear an indication you could get that the Eagles will move on from the disgruntled wide receivers before the 2026 season. At first glance, it’s the biggest no-brainer for a receiver-needy team in the NFL. Brown remains a 1,000-yard receiver, is still one of the best in the league at his position, and he’s on the right side of 30 — meaning he hasn’t hit his decline yet. The glaring problem in projecting him onto a team is the money.

Brown signed a three-year, $96M extension with the Eagles in April of 2024, which has a cap hit of $23.4M in the upcoming season. That makes it much trickier to find him a home than it would otherwise. Complicating matters further is the $84M of guaranteed money on the deal, which makes it functionally impossible for the Eagles to cut Brown outright (which would allow a new team to negotiate a contract) or trade him before June 1. A trade now would result in a $20M cap loss for the Eagles, while if they wait until after June 1 it would save them $7M against the cap.

What this means is that we’re going to need to wait for some time for this one to pan out. This is likely why Sirianni used the “can’t guarantee” phrasing over explicitly saying Philadelphia was shopping the receiver. With that information in mind we can now look at the league, the teams that are in dire need of receiver help, and really work out who could make a move in the Summer for A.J. Brown.

New England Patriots

This landing spot is so obvious there might as well be a neon sign with an arrow pointing at Foxboro. We saw in the Super Bowl that the Patriots need help at receiver beyond Stefon Diggs, who is still facing charges for felony strangulation/suffocation, misdemeanor assault, and battery — charges which the WR pled not guilty to.

When it comes to A.J. Brown, the fit is perfect. Not only do the Patriots run the vertical passing offense that Brown wants to be a part of, but the Patriots have $38M in effective cap space after signing their draft class, giving them plenty of room to make a big deal. Add in the obvious fact that Mike Vrabel is the coach, who Brown played under for the first five years of his career, and it makes this fit so clear that it would be surprising if it doesn’t happen.

Los Angeles Chargers

The Chargers passing game limped along on a hope and a prayer in 2025 with Ladd McConkey being the only real bright spot. The team has indicated a desire to bring back veteran Keenan Allen, and they have a lot of receivers in the room — but having a lot of guys, and having quality guys are mutually exclusive in this case.

If we look at the Chargers’ offense there’s a lot of work to be done, even with Jim Harbaugh’s run-first proclivities. Teams were able to stack the box because they didn’t respect the deep ball enough, which is where Brown could open everything up. It’s also becoming apparent that Quentin Johnson is likely never going to be more than a 2nd or 3rd option on the team, which is something the Chargers need to just accept and move on.

With a metric ton of cap space and an obvious need, Brown would be a great fit on the Chargers.

San Francisco 49ers

For my money, Kyle Shanahan was the best coach in football last year for how he was able to take an injured and deeply flawed roster to the second round of the playoffs. Now the team is looking to cut ties with Brandon Aiyuk, making their need for a No. 1 receiver an absolute priority.

The passing game has largely fallen apart with Aiyuk and George Kittle being injured, Deebo Samuel getting traded away, and there being no consistent receiving threat on the roster except RB Christian McCaffrey. This organization needs a receiver worse than any of the good teams in the NFL, and they have the cap space to make it happen.

This would be another good fit on a playoff team where Brown would both be able to compete for a ring, and find himself in a position where he would make a considerable impact. The lingering question is whether or not the short passing, West Coast system would appeal to him as much as a team like the Patriots who prefer to throw vertical.

Los Angeles Rams

Here’s a wild card that doesn’t make sense on the surface, but dig a little deeper and it makes a lot of sense. The Rams featured one of the most high-powered passing offenses in the NFL last season with Puka Nacua and Davante Adams being a stellar one-two punch with Nacua moving the chains, and Adams finishing drives in the end zone. However, that was really the only area that Adams stood out in 2025, scoring a stellar 15 touchdowns, but only contributing 789 receiving yards.

The issue is that Adams carries a cap figure of $28M this season. If Los Angeles designates him as a post-June 1 cut they will save $18M — which is almost right at the figure A.J. Brown would make. Good teams have good rosters, but great ones are always looking to improve, and there’s little doubt that Brown would be an overall improvement to the passing attack across from Nacua.

Coach Sean McVay is always willing to shake things up to gain an edge, making a possible Adams cut and Brown signing a distinct possibility.

What do you think: Where would be the best landing spot for A.J. Brown? Is it on one of these teams, or another wild card? Sound off in the comments.