As the calendar flips to the month of June, the NFL world is fixing its gaze on the Philadelphia Eagles and a potential AJ Brown trade.
Brown is undoubtedly the biggest name on the trade market as we get into the "dog days" of the NFL offseason, but he might be one of just a number of players on the way out of his current situation. For the time being, everyone is assuming Brown is going to be traded to the New England Patriots, who have been the most connected team in those discussions all along.
However, Ian Rapoport of ESPN/NFL Network is saying that those talks between the Eagles and Patriots are not close at this point. If that's the case, could we see another team swoop in and take this trade opportunity away from the Patriots?
It's not out of the question. But who would do it? Which team has the need for a player like AJ Brown and would be willing to meet the Eagles' asking price of a 1st-round pick?
3 NFL teams that could steal AJ Brown trade opportunity away from Patriots
1. Las Vegas Raiders
Before we talk about why the Raiders make sense, let's just put some fans of the team at ease and say that we think the Raiders should trade a 2028 first-round pick for AJ Brown, not a 2027 1st-round pick. The 2027 NFL Draft is simply too good at the top for the Raiders to risk potentially missing out on a generational prospect or true future building block.
At the same time, paying up with a 2028 1st-round pick makes some sense, because it preserves all of the Raiders' top picks in next year's draft and gives Fernando Mendoza an important weapon to spread the ball to right away as a young quarterback.
The Raiders right now have one of the worst wide receiver groups in the NFL. They've had a tremendous all-around offseason revamping their roster, but that's the one position that you really have to squint to see the vision, both now and going forward.
Adding AJ Brown, and not giving up a 1st-round pick until 2028 to get him, would give the Raiders a shot to make some serious noise in the AFC West early in Mendoza's NFL career.
2. Los Angeles Chargers
Very quietly, the Los Angeles Chargers have over $43 million in available cap space. Having an abundance of salary cap space doesn't always mean that you're going to make big splash after big splash in free agency, but the Chargers have done a lot of work this offseason retaining their own players.
But still, $43 million in additional available cap space right now is a lot, and the Chargers are a team ready to compete for a championship. The one position group they haven't properly addressed this offseason is wide receiver. The team's leading receiver last year was Keenan Allen, who is still floating around in NFL free agency.
And as valuable as Allen has been for Justin Herbert through the years, a player like AJ Brown could be a game-changer for Mike McDaniel's offense.
3. Kansas City Chiefs
This list was made one team at a time, so it's just by pure happenstance that it is a list of the entire AFC West minus the Denver Broncos.
But all of these teams do make a lot of sense.
The Chiefs are dealing with yet another issue at the wide receiver position with Rashee Rice spending 30 days in jail and recovering from an injury. His reliability and availablity are his worst traits at this point, and the Chiefs simply can't count on him.
One thing that could really help Patrick Mahomes make his way back from injury seamlessly is having an offense creator like AJ Brown to throw the ball to, someone the Chiefs could truly feature in the passing game. If Kansas City is truly going to get back into contention this coming season, they're going to need a player like AJ Brown to help push them over the top, because they simply don't have the weapons at receiver right now.
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