ESPN NFL Analyst Says Eagles Must Get Rid of One Star Player After Loss to 49ers

The Eagles had their season come to a disappointing end last Sunday with a loss at home to the 49ers in the wild-card round. The defending Super Bowl champions had a frustrating year and now are left to figure out how they can fix things and become serious contenders again next season.

The first move in that direction came Tuesday when the team relieved embattled offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo of his play-calling duties.

ESPN analyst Marcus Spears suggested another big move for the Eagles during Wednesday's First Take. The former NFL player said Philadelphia has to take a bold step and move on from star wide receiver A.J. Brown.

[The Eagles] need to trade A.J. Brown," Spears said. "We’ve talked about A.J. and the team and we saw the blowup with Nick Sirianni during the playoff game but that wasn’t the one that did it for me. The one that did it for me is that you have to make a play at the end of the game and try to score a touchdown and Jalen Hurts throws into triple coverage in the middle of the field and A.J. Brown is one-on-one on the outside. Now, I recall weeks ago when the Philadelphia Eagles were playing the Rams and they had to manufacture some offense and it was the A.J. Brown show because they knew and trusted that he would make those plays. And I know there were two misses in the [playoff] game but those two misses don’t dismiss all of the catches and big plays he’s made while in a Philadelphia Eagles uniform. So that play specifically at the end of the game told me that this whole thing was a problem. I don’t think you have a $100 million wide receiver on your roster, I don’t believe you’ve watched A.J. Brown make the plays that he has made and at the end of a football game in the playoffs and he’s matched up man-to-man against Deommodore Lenoir of the 49ers and you don’t throw him the ball. … That last play of the game told me everything I needed to know without any player, coach, head of the organization saying anything. I just believe it’s time to move A.J. Brown and A.J. Brown probably wants some new scenery based on how this relationship went this year as well."

Here's that clip:

"[The Eagles] need to trade A.J. Brown." 😳@mspears96 on what else the Eagles need to do after firing OC Kevin Patullo 🤔 pic.twitter.com/Hi2LIHsbEi
— First Take (@FirstTake) January 14, 2026

Brown had just three catches for 25 yards with no touchdowns in the loss to the 49ers. He also had a couple of big drops late against the 49ers, including this bad one with just over two minutes left in the fourth quarter:

#flyeaglesfly AJ Brown one of the most overrated players in the league locker room problem drops his SECOND ball of the night this time setting the eagles in 4th down pic.twitter.com/3vLbV3p5mz
— Jimbo (@JimbosJunkbox) January 12, 2026

He then later had another costly drop in the final minute:

AJ Brown makes $32 Mil a year and Devonte Smith makes $25 Mil just to drop clutch passes to end our season

Sick of these dudes ✌🏻 pic.twitter.com/iZw5bhPFKD
— Jacob (@Jacobtheclipper) January 12, 2026

Brown and Hurts had their issues together all season long. Now that the Eagles are done for the year it will be interesting to see if they make a big move and send Brown packing.