Davante Adams. Tyreek Hill. Now AJ Brown.
They’re all Pro Bowl wide receivers. And they’ve each been traded during the 2022 offseason.
This spring’s carousel of wideout movement kept spinning Thursday night, leading established, game-breaking players to new homes where lucrative contract extensions and newfound hopes of contention await. Brown wasn’t the first veteran receiver to be traded on Day 1 of the NFL Draft — that was Cardinals’ addition Hollywood Brown. He’ll likely be the richest one, however, after the Philadelphia Eagles sent the 18th overall pick and a third-rounder to the Tennessee Titans for the opportunity to hand Brown a four-year, $100 million contract extension with $57 million guaranteed.
We've traded picks 18 and 101 to the Titans for WR A.J. Brown.@LifeBrand_AI | #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/BKTNOL5B8u
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) April 29, 2022
It’s a move that solves one of Philadelphia’s biggest needs. The Eagles were able to trade up to the 13th pick in a draft where the top four WRs on most experts’ boards had all been snatched up by pick 12. General manager Howie Roseman turned this into a feature rather than a bug. He traded his 18th pick — acquired, in part, by foisting broken toy Carson Wentz on the Colts last spring — and a third-rounder to Tennessee for Brown.
Now Brown gets to head up a receiving corps that features the short-range playmaking of DeVonta Smith, safety-distracting deep range of Quez Watkins, seam-busting tight end speed of Dallas Goedert, and whatever remaining value can be gleaned from 2020 first-round pick Jalen Reagor (probably not much, but if Nelson Agholor can find a way to be halfway decent, it’s possible!). Brown, at his best, embodies the strengths of all those guys. He’s the player opponents will have to double-team, creating room for everyone else to thrive. He’s the guy who makes Jalen Hurts’ (or Gardner Minshew’s) life immensely easier.
There are caveats, however. Brown’s yards per catch and yards per target have declined in each of the last two seasons — even as his average separation per route have increased — taking quarterback Ryan Tannehill’s efficiency numbers south alongside them. He’s moving from one flawed passer to another, though his new charge in Philly is one far more willing to take chances downfield. Tannehill completed just 12 of his 40 deep balls in 17 games last season. Hurts was 22 of 57 in 15 starts in that same stretch.
At face value, it’s a win/win for both sides. The Titans had time to work out a deal with Brown, decided it wasn’t worth it, and let him cash in elsewhere. They’ve already used the considerations gleaned to find his replacement; 6-foot-2, 225 pound Arkansas wideout Treylon Burks, selected with the 18th pick. The Eagles got the established No. 1 they need and, in a rare departure from this offseason’s trends, added AFC talent to an NFC squad.
That’s what Philadelphia needed to do in a rebuild that was ahead of schedule thanks to last season’s playoff berth, but not all that impressive thanks to zero wins over actual playoff opponents. The Eagles got the wideout who’ll be a rising tide to every ship in their offense this season. The Titans, on the other hand, got a little worse but saved a lot of money. Just like the Packers and Chiefs before them.
But hey, they could always trade for Deebo Samuel and keep this WR movement party rolling.
