Eagles Mailbag: Will A.J. Brown Be Back in Philadelphia Next Season?
The Philadelphia Eagles currently sit atop the NFC with a record of 8-2, a position that many other teams around the league likely wish that they were in. Yet the Eagles are also dealing with several problems due to a struggling offense, injuries and more.
Philadelphia’s inconsistent offense has fallen well short of expectations, which has only been magnified by A.J. Brown’s frustrations. Will Brown be back in the City of Brotherly Love next season? I’ll discuss that and more in my Eagles mailbag ahead of Week 12.
There is no denying the smoke around Brown and his frustrations in Philadelphia. While some want to pretend that everything will be fixed by a strong offensive performance or two, I simply don’t believe that is the case.
It seems like Brown’s frustrations are both on and off the field, which were apparent at times last season as well. While Eagles general manager Howie Roseman wasn’t interested in entertaining a trade for Brown in 2025, my guess is that things will change in the offseason.
Brown is a supremely talented wide receiver, yet it’s clear that he may never reach the level of individual dominance that he is seeking in Philadelphia. While Brown has tried to say that he doesn’t care about stats, he has contradicted that idea multiple times in 2025.
Roseman and the Eagles have absorbed a huge dead cap hit to move on from an unhappy player before, so this wouldn’t exactly be foreign territory in Philadelphia. It’s also worth noting that the Eagles have had their best offensive performance in the one game that Brown didn’t play in this season.
While many would understandably be upset if the Eagles were to trade Brown, I truly think it’s a move that Roseman will consider. If another team offers a 2026 first-round pick and more for Brown, that could likely get a deal done in the offseason.
If the Eagles were going to sign Jaelan Phillips to an extension, my guess is that Philadelphia would have wanted to do so right after trading for him. Yet given Phillips’ hot start with the Eagles, his own agent likely wants to wait until the offseason to have those conversations.
Everyone around the NFL saw all of the money that both Milton Williams and Josh Sweat made in free agency last offseason. Now agents likely view Philadelphia as the go-to place to maximize their client’s value.
I don’t believe Roseman will break his recent trend of waiting until the offseason to sign players to a contract extension. It wouldn’t exactly look great if he signed Phillips to a contract extension while a player like Reed Blankenship is playing on his rookie deal.
Jaelan Phillips and Reed Blankenship are the easy answers to this question, in my opinion. I know that many will want to bring Nakobe Dean back but I don’t see that happening, unless Dean is willing to take less money to stick around in Philadelphia.
The Eagles traded up in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft to select Jihaad Campbell for a reason…and that reason wasn’t to sit behind Dean for the next several years. While Dean has proved to be an important piece in 2025, I can’t see the Eagles using Campbell as a backup once again in year two.
Meanwhile, both Phillips and Blankenship are clearly the best players at their respective positions on Philadelphia’s roster right now. Both players could easily opt to chase the biggest deal possible in free agency, which could be elsewhere, but the Eagles should try to re-sign both of them in 2026.
While Eagles first-year offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo is the easy target for blame, I’ve said multiple times that Philadelphia’s issues fall on more than just one person. Here’s how I would assign blame for Philadelphia’s offense:
Kevin Patullo: 30%
Offensive Line: 25%
Nick Sirianni: 15%
Jalen Hurts: 15%
Injuries: 10%
Penalties: 5%
Patullo certainly deserves the largest portion of the blame pie, yet he isn’t the only one at fault. Philadelphia’s offensive line has failed to meet expectations this season and it’s a large reason why the running game has struggled.
Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts are also equally to blame because they play a key role in the product on the field. Sirianni’s lack of adjustments both on and off the field hasn’t helped, while Hurts’ conservative play has put a ceiling on the offense.
Injuries have certainly contributed as well, since we’ve seen several different offensive line combinations and the underrated losses of both Johnny Wilson and Ben VanSumeren. Penalties have also proven costly at times, often halting any signs of flow on offense.
Eagles quarterback coach Scot Loeffler would be my top in-house candidate to assume the role of offensive coordinator in Philadelphia. He has several years of offensive play-calling and designing unique concepts to maximize his player’s abilities from his time in college.
Brian Daboll would likely be my top outside target among the names that are currently available. While he had a controversial ending to his head coaching tenure in New York, Daboll has had success as an offensive play-caller and has worked with Hurts before.
The Eagles should be thankful for Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Moro Oj—. In all seriousness, while I could rattle off the entire starting defense, I’ll go with Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. Since arriving in 2024, he has transformed Philadelphia’s defense into one of the scariest units in the NFL.
Unlike Patullo, Fangio knows exactly how to maximize each and every player’s skillset (outside of Bryce Huff). It truly seems like he can do no wrong and the entire team should be thankful that he’s in Philadelphia.
This is such a tough question to answer, especially given all of the storylines and drama surrounding the team right now. Yet it feels like this team has always done their best when the outside noise is at its loudest.
While I’m going to tiptoe around the first part of the question, I honestly don’t think winning the division matters much. The Eagles should be focused on securing the top overall seed in the NFC and I don’t think that their priorities would change once they secure the division.
I loved Earl Wolff ahead of the 2013 NFL Draft and thought he was a steal for Philadelphia in the fifth round. I was such a believer in Wolff that I bought an 8x10 photo that was autographed by him (which I still have, I think).
I truly believed that Wolff could be the answer at safety for the Eagles…and that obviously didn’t happen. While his career in Philadelphia was ultimately hindered by a knee injury, my hopes were so unrealistically high for him.