Every year, we post a Philadelphia Eagles-focused primer ahead of June 1, which is a noteworthy date on the NFL calendar as it typically triggers a number of roster moves around the NFL. That post is usually for the diehards.
This year, the date “June 1” has been drilled into the heads of any Eagles fan who even casually follows the team during the offseason, because of its association with the inevitable trade of star wide receiver A.J. Brown.
Why is June 1 such a noteworthy date?
Well, prior to June 1, if a player is cut or traded, any and all dead money, usually in the form of bonus proration, accelerates into the current year, and counts toward the salary cap in the current year. If a player is released or traded after June 1, any bonus proration in future contract years won’t count toward the cap in the form of dead money until the following year.
Are you still here? You haven’t closed this article after that last paragraph? Thanks! Here’s what it means for the Eagles this year.
A.J. Brown will almost certainly be traded sometime after June 1
It’s been a long offseason covering the A.J. Brown trade saga, and I know that a lot of you have long since tired of hearing about it. Well, it’s almost over. In case you’ve been on some Caribbean island for the last five months with no internet service, (a) congrats, and (b) here’s a quick timeline of our reporting on Brown this offseason.
We’ll call this our Encyclopedia (A.J.) Brown
• November 14: We examined if Brown is even still an elite receiver.
• January 15: We laid out all the pertinent financial details if an A.J. Brown trade were to take place.
• January 21: We concluded that Brown would likely be traded.
• February 18: We laid out the trade partners who made the most sense. (The Patriots always have always been at the top of the list.)
• February 24: Howie Roseman went on a media tour at the Combine begging for offers for Brown (at least if you understand how they operate).
• April 1: Jeffrey Lurie’s comments at the owners meetings clearly pointed to an eventual trade of Brown.
• April 23: The selection of WR Makai Lemon in the first round of the 2026 draft eliminated all doubt that Brown was getting dealt.
Will the Patriots still be the team that trades for Brown?
Please don’t consider this any sort of official report, but when I left the owners meetings in Phoenix at the end of March, after having spoken with a lot of people around the league, I was convinced that a deal had already more or less been struck with the Patriots, but it would wait until after June 1.
Of course, things can change. The Patriots could get cold feet, or the Eagles could find that some other team is willing to give up more, etc. (The Rams emerged as serious bidders seemingly out of the blue back in March, so it could conceivably happen with another team.)
Over the last week or so, there has been some guessing that other teams (notably the Jaguars, and to a lesser degree, the Chiefs) could be surprise teams interested in Brown. And certainly, Howie Roseman would be smart to continue to gauge interest around the league (a) to ensure he isn’t leaving a better offer on the table, and (b) just in case the Patriots flake out.
Ultimately, I still believe the deal with the Patriots will happen, and very soon after June 1. The Eagles are pretending not to be motivated sellers, but, well, they clearly are. At the same time the Patriots are pretending not to be motivated buyers, but they clearly are as well.
And if so — again, not reporting anything here — my guess is that the Eagles will get a 2028 first-round pick, with 2027 sprinkles (something like a fourth-round pick). It might not look exactly like that, but my guess is that the Eagles will get roughly that level of value. I have since seen some Patriots beat reporters say that that Pats will give up the 1 in 2028, but that the Eagles would be sending a draft pick back to them. So, there is a range of outcomes, obviously.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport said on Thursday that the Patriots do not want to give up a first-round pick. I’m sure they don’t in the same way I’d prefer not to have to pay my mortgage, but they know they have to. I would say that a more accurate way of putting it is that they have heavily resisted including a first-round pick in 2027.
Brandon Graham’s 2025 contract will terminate
Graham isn’t really on the team at the moment, as his contract voids this offseason, and he was not present at OTAs. But also, if you look at the Eagles’ roster page, he technically still is on the team. His current contract will expire after June 1, and the Eagles will spread out a small amount of dead money from it into 2027.
To be determined if BG will sign a new deal for the 2026 season.
Retirements
Often when players retire, they leave behind dead money because cash that they have already been paid has not yet counted toward the salary cap. Teams will wait until June 1 to make those retirements “official” so that they can spread out the cap charges over two years. The Eagles have done this in the past with guys like Jason Kelce, Brandon Brooks, and Brandon Graham (before BG unretired).
Anyway, the Eagles don’t have any retirements to process this year after June 1.
How about trade possibilities for outside players?
In 2021, the Atlanta Falcons traded Julio Jones to the Tennessee Titans shortly after June 1, because it meant that they could spread out his dead money over 2021 and 2022, instead of the full amount being applied to 2021. You know, just like A.J. Brown. In 2022, the Cleveland Browns traded Baker Mayfield to the Carolina Panthers under similar circumstances. Post-June 1 trades are becoming more commonplace.
This will actually be the second year in a row that the Eagles will trade a player after June 1. Last year they somehow found a taker for Bryce Huff in the San Francisco 49ers after he was a healthy scratch in the Super Bowl. (Side note: The details of the Huff trade were agreed to and reported last year on May 30, but the deal wasn’t officially executed until June 3. So there is at least some small possibility that the Eagles “Friday news dump” the Brown trade today.)
But what about bringing in players via trade from other teams around the league?
A trade for a safety would make sense for the Eagles, and players like the Browns’ Grant Delpit, the Falcons’ Jessie Bates, and the Cardinals’ Budda Baker would all be more easily dealt by their respective teams after June 1. Delpit makes more sense than Bates or Baker, as his contract is far more palatable.
Following new information from a revealing Vic Fangio press conference, we covered the Eagles’ safety position in depth last weekend, and concluded that they are probably more likely to see what they have on their own roster for now, and trade for a safety deeper into the summer if they don’t like what they see in training camp.
It’s also worth noting that Roseman checks in on the availability of Browns superstar Myles Garrett every year. It doesn’t really matter that the Eagles have a very good D-line group already. If you can add the best non-QB in the NFL, then Roseman will be more than open to it. It’s also worth noting that the Eagles will free up a lot of future money after the Brown trade. To be clear, a trade for Garrett is highly unlikely, but once Brown is gone this will be the new hot Eagles rumor. So get ready for that.
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