Eagles WR depth chart after the AJ Brown trade is somehow the deepest it’s been in years

The Eagles traded AJ Brown to the New England Patriots on June 1, and the real question was never whether they’ll miss him. They will. The question is who absorbs the work he leaves behind, and for the first time in a long time, the answer isn’t “nobody.”

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Brown gave Philadelphia four straight 1,000-yard seasons after the 2022 trade, including the two best receiving years in franchise history, 1,496 yards in 2022 and 1,456 the season after. You don’t replace that with a single name, and Roseman didn’t pretend otherwise. The GM-speak was the rare kind that’s actually true: that production gets spread across the room.

Here’s where that room stands heading into the second week of OTAs.

The Eagles WR1 job belongs to DeVonta Smith now

This part isn’t complicated.

Smith has been the 1A to Brown’s 1 for years, and now he’s just the 1. He was the first-round pick in 2021 and has posted three 1,000-yard seasons in five years.

The optimistic case the front office is leaning on is the Seahawks: after dealing DK Metcalf in 2025, Jaxon Smith-Njigba jumped from 1,130 yards to a league-leading 1,793. That’s the dream scenario, and dream scenarios are exactly that. But Smith doesn’t need the leap to justify the role. He’s earned it.

Makai Lemon is the rookie the Eagles are betting on

Philadelphia traded up from No. 23 to No. 20 to get the USC slot receiver, who put up 79 catches, 1,156 yards, and 11 touchdowns last season.

At 5-11, 192, he isn’t built like Brown and isn’t supposed to be. He’s a volume slot guy who works the middle and can punish a safety deep.

The comp floating around is Amon-Ra St. Brown, who’s cleared 115 catches three years running. That’s a ceiling, not a forecast, and rookie slot receivers rarely arrive on schedule. Lemon will get the targets to find out either way.

The rest of the Eagles WR room

Dontayvion Wicks, acquired from Green Bay in April, is the possession piece and already knows Sean Mannion’s system from his time with the Packers, a clean upgrade over Jahan Dotson, who managed 37 catches in two full seasons before leaving in free agency.

Hollywood Brown signed in March as the vertical element, coming off 49 catches for 587 yards with the Chiefs. Maybe he’s the three, maybe he’s the four. Where he actually lands is a training-camp answer.

The bottom of the room is a genuine fight. Elijah Moore, undrafted special-teamer Darius Cooper, and 6-foot-6 Johnny Wilson, back from the knee injury that wiped out his 2024, are scrapping for the final spots, with Covey, Toure, and a handful of others rounding it out.

What the Eagles got back

A 2028 first and a 2027 fifth.

Whether that’s enough for one of the best receivers in the league is a debate for another day. What’s not debatable is that the depth chart underneath the trade is the least top-heavy it’s been in years.

For a receiver room that’s been the Smith-and-Brown show and not much else, that’s the actual story.