The A.J Brown trade saga hit the point of no return in Philly on Friday. The trade talks have been a recurring wildfire, but GM Howie Roseman's decision on Friday sent a statement across the NFL that they aren't signing the paper on the first trade that comes around. Quite the opposite, in fact, where they would expect nothing less than the premium tax to consider the trade.
On Friday, Eagles floated around the asking price for the Ole Miss titan to be a 1st, a 2nd, and a player, which several from the league called "too much."
Yet, it makes sense why the Eagles are taking their sweet time leveraging the best deal out of the situation. It's because they are taking some time to save themselves from a $43 million dead cap.
A.J. Brown to be biggest dead cap hit for a non-quarterback contract in league history?
ESPN's Ben Solak explains how the Eagles would most likely wait until June 1 to sign Brown's trade.
"Because almost all of Brown's future money is tied up in option bonuses that can be prorated over future void years -- rather than base salary -- his contract represents a significant dead cap figure. Trading Brown when free agency opens would dump $43 million in dead money on the Eagles' 2026 cap -- more than twice his $23.4 million cap figure if he remains with Philadelphia."
"This figure is huge and would be the biggest dead cap hit for a non-quarterback contract in league history. But it's not impossible to swallow. The Eagles are currently under the 2026 cap, and while they don't have much room to create more space with simple restructures (they've already done all of the big restructuring), they can make further space by cutting Michael Carter II or extending Jordan Davis. They'd still likely need Brown and any acquiring team to work with the existing deal and lower the 2026 dead cap figure somehow."
"The far easier financial approach is to trade Brown after June 1. Post-June 1 transactions spread the dead cap hit over the next two seasons instead of lumping it all on the current year. So, $16 million of the dead $43 million would hit the cap in 2026, actually saving the Eagles some room, while the remaining $27 million lands in 2027."
So unless they're getting a 1st and 2nd Round pick, plus a player, they might stretch it out until June.