NFL offseason power rankings: No. 9 Eagles traded A.J. Brown, but are they clear of the drama?
The next book A.J. Brown reads on the sideline might be one about all the drama surrounding the 2025 Philadelphia Eagles . There are enough stories for it. What happened with the Eagles last season really wasn't new. In 2023, after a Super Bowl appearance, the Eagles took a step back and underachieved despite a loaded roster. The drama might have been amplified that season, and last season as well. It's Philly after all. But the bottom line was a team that was dominant on its way to the Super Bowl LIX title looked last season like it wanted nothing to do with each other. The Eagles were talented enough to win 11 games and a division title, but there was a predictable flameout in the playoffs for a club that was clearly underachieving. Play Yahoo's new College Fantasy Football game: Create or join a league now! The two biggest subtractions were Brown, who everyone knew was on his way out by the time last season ended, and offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, who wore the majority of the criticism for a stale and ineffective offense. Trading a player like Brown doesn't make Philadelphia better on paper, but it was a move with chemistry in mind. The last time the Eagles were coming off a miserable finish to a season, they rebounded to win a Super Bowl. There's enough talent on hand where that's a realistic goal this time around as well. Jalen Hurts always seems to be doubted, but he's a Super Bowl MVP and also played better than anyone else in Super Bowl LVII, which the Eagles lost to the Chiefs. The issues with the downturn in production for him, Saquon Barkley and the offense as a whole might be largely related to the play-calling. When ESPN's Dan Orlovsky shredded the Eagles for running the same unimaginative plays with the season on the line in the playoff loss to the 49ers , it summed up all of the Eagles' fans complaints about Patullo. Maybe Sean Mannion, a 34-year-old fast riser who will be a first-time coordinator this season, will fix some of those woes. He'll have a scheme that is expected to be a huge change for Hurts, putting him under center far more often than he's ever done. The defense, which was arguably the NFL's best in 2024, was still very good last season. The roster as a whole is still one of the NFL's best. It's everything else that needs to improve. Some comments from Hurts in 2022 are instructive four years later. "When you're playing a team sport, it's not all about X's and O's," Hurts said, according to the team's site . "A lot of it is ball, but the other part of it is getting to know that person, being on the same page with that person, knowing how that person thinks, and just getting to know him thoroughly." It's not always easy to figure that out, and it's not like Brown was the only reason for the discord. Hurts' role in the offense's deterioration, and particularly his reluctance to adapt his game to playing more under center, was detailed in an ESPN story this offseason. That story also discussed tension between Hurts and coaches, and also between Hurts and teammates like Brown. Again, it's nothing new in Philly. There were similar stories of despair during the 2024 offseason . That Eagles team won 16 of its last 17 games on its way to a championship. Doing it again in 2026 would make for a heck of a story, not that Philadelphia ever lacks content when it comes to the Eagles. The headline of the offseason was a trade that everyone knew was happening for months. Finally, on June 1, the Eagles officially traded A.J. Brown to the Patriots for a 2028 first-round draft pick and a 2027 fifth-round pick. The Eagles got four fantastic seasons from Brown, including a Super Bowl title, then traded him for close to the same picks they gave up to get him (in 2022 Philadelphia traded a first- and third-round pick to Tennessee for Brown). Not bad. It also leaves a hole in the offense, but the Eagles prepared for that. They drafted Makai Lemon in the first round, trading ahead of the Steelers to ste [... truncated ...]
