Eagles say they want AJ Brown back in 2026, but Howie’s answers leave the door open

At face value, this should’ve been simple for the Eagles brass.

Howie Roseman and Nick Sirianni both met with reporters at the Combine and made it clear that they want AJ Brown on the Eagles in 2026. Roseman called him a great player. Sirianni said his expectation is that Brown wants to be here. On the surface, it sounded like a pretty standard vote of confidence for your All-Pro wide receiver.

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But if you’ve followed the Eagles for any amount of time, you know better than to just listen to what Howie says.

You have to listen to how he says it.

Because while both Roseman and Sirianni publicly backed Brown, their answers told a much more nuanced story, one that suggests this situation might not be as cut and dry as the team would like you to believe.

The Eagles want him here… but they’re “always listening”

Roseman repeatedly emphasized that the organization wants Brown back and that you don’t improve by subtracting elite talent.

Then came the part that matters.

When asked whether the Eagles would listen to trade offers for Brown this offseason, Roseman didn’t shut it down. He didn’t call it a non-starter. He didn’t give the emphatic “no” he reportedly gave teams at the trade deadline.

Instead, he said: “We’re always listening.”

That’s not nothing.

That’s Howie Roseman doing exactly what Howie Roseman always does, making it clear that no player is above the team, and that every decision will ultimately be made through the lens of what’s best for the Eagles, not any one individual.

Wanting AJ Brown on your roster and being unwilling to even entertain the idea of moving him are two very different things. The Eagles made sure to leave that distinction intact.

AJ Brown hasn’t exactly shut down the noise

Complicating things further is the fact that Brown himself hasn’t publicly slammed the door on any speculation.

He:

• Missed league-mandated locker room availability late in the season
• Showed visible frustration on the field throughout 2025
• Was caught in a heated sideline exchange with Sirianni during the Wild Card round
• Hasn’t directly addressed his long-term future in Philadelphia

Sirianni says the expectation is that Brown wants to be here, but expectation and confirmation aren’t the same thing. I also think AJ wants to be here, but I’ve been wrong before.

And when the player in question hasn’t come out and explicitly said, “I want to be an Eagle long-term,” the questions aren’t just going to disappear.

Fixing the offense could fix everything

The Eagles seem to believe that last year’s offensive dysfunction played a role in Brown’s frustrations.

Kevin Patullo is gone. Sean Mannion is in.

Philadelphia expects Mannion’s system to lean more heavily into play-action concepts and build around things Jalen Hurts already does well, ideally creating more overlap between Hurts’ strengths and Brown’s role in the offense.

Hurts and Brown weren’t consistently on the same page in 2025. The hope internally is that schematic changes smooth that out.

But hope isn’t certainty.

And whether Mannion’s offense is enough to keep Brown fully bought in is a question that won’t be answered in a press conference in February.

Read between the lines

Publicly, the Eagles want AJ Brown back. That much is obvious.

But Roseman’s refusal to label a trade as a non-starter, coupled with his insistence that the front office is obligated to listen to anything that could improve the team, tells you everything you need to know about how this situation is being handled internally.

They want him here.

They expect him to be here.

They’re planning like he’ll be here.

But they’re not guaranteeing anything.

And when Howie starts talking like that, it’s usually worth paying attention.