Nick Foles: A.J. Brown wants to be traded

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Nick Foles is a beloved figure in Philly. He led the team to its first Super Bowl win. And he hardly has a reputation for being a guy who says controversial things for the sake of attention. As to the question of the offseason for the Eagles — will they trade receiver A.J. Brown? — Foles has some information. He recently shared it with Jeff Skversky of Fox29 in Philadelphia. "They have a first-year coordinator in Sean Mannion," Foles said. "You don't want to deal with, you know, what they dealt with last year with A.J. Now, A.J. had merit looking back. Like, why was he frustrated? Well, it was the concepts of the offense and how it was [run] with Kevin Patullo. Looking back, that's maybe what the frustration was. Was it with Jalen Hurts? I don't know. I'm not in the facility. No idea. But because of those things and different people I know around the league that know A.J. a little bit . . .what I've gathered is, [he] wants to be traded , but I also think like he wants to be traded to specific places. "I think New England would make a lot of sense because of his history [with coach Mike] Vrabel. I think that's obvious, right? And I think he even said he grew up a Patriots fan, if I'm correct. So that would be like two-fold situation. But really because [G.M. Howie Roseman's] not shutting it down. That's a big thing. And he's gonna have a lot of strategy behind it. He's gonna get something he wants by — I think it's going to come to a point where he realized last year was very difficult. This is Howie. And he doesn't want to do that again with a first-year coordinator. If A.J. Brown's not happy, which seems like he's not super happy in Philly, but he's got to give the lip service to say he is. They're gonna try to find a way to hopefully make it right for him and make it right for the Eagles. And I'd imagine that Howie really respects A.J. And hopefully A.J. respects Howie to where they try to do right by each other and figure out a way that where A.J.'s happy and the Eagles are happy sort of thing." Foles added that, a couple of weeks ago, he thought there was an 80-percent chance Brown would not be traded. Foles said he's not at "50-50" as to a trade occurring. Based on what Foles said after that, it sounds as if he's at least at 51-49: "I do think he'll get traded before the start of the season. Not sure when. I do think the New England Patriots make a lot of sense." June 1 continues to be the key date. After June 1, the Eagles would not take a cap acceleration in 2026; any dead money for 2027 and beyond would hit the salary cap in 2027. And it's possible that the Eagles already have a wink-nod deal in place with a specific team, perhaps the Patriots, after June 1. If so, there's no reason for either side to blurt it out before the draft. The Eagles should let other teams think they may not be thinking about taking a receiver with any of their various picks, and the Patriots should let other teams think they could. After the draft, it can then be announced that, come June 2, Brown will be a Patriot. Pending a physical, as we learned last month.