Polarizing Eagles' A.J. Brown trade would be 2025 version of Treylon Burks deal

The Philadelphia Eagles may be a 4-0 team, but their vibe appears to be nothing like that of an unbeaten team normally looks. With star wide receiver A.J. Brown pouting on social media after some dreadful showings early in the season, the rumor mill has once again swept his name up.

The Eagles have no reason to trade Brown despite his dip in production, but that hasn't stopped all of the trade gurus out there from trying to cook up an exit plan. One of them might be a bit too lacking in substance for the Eagles, as the return wouldn't measure up to Brown's talent.

Matt Verderame of Sports Illustrated crafted a hypothetical trade package in which Brown gets traded to the Denver Broncos in exchange for Marvin Mims and a 2026 third-round pick. This may not be Treylon Burks-level bad, but it would make the Eagles a much worse team.

Sports Illustrated believes Eagles should trade AJ Brown to Broncos

What makes the Eagles' passing game so deadly is the stylistic contrast between the physical Brown and speed Devonta Smith. Philadelphia would lose that with Mims, who is a smaller player with a game that is entirely based on using his verticality to get deep or making plays on screens.

The Eagles already have more draft picks than they know what to do with thanks to years of quality GMing from Howie Roseman, so the third-round pick is not that much of an incentive. At his best, Brown is as good as any receiver in the NFC, which is not worth Mims and a third in any sense.

The only party who seems to benefit from this deal would be Denver, who would give Bo Nix one of the best 1-2 wide receiver punches in the league between Brown and Courtland Sutton. Every Broncos fan would volunteer to drive Mims to the airport if it meant getting this deal done.

With Kevin Patullo's passing attack already coming under fire (while hurting the running game as a result) and Smith's lack of experience as a WR1 at the NFL level, it seems very difficult to build an aerial attack that features Smith and Mims with Jalen Hurts playing at the level he has been throughout this year that can scare defenses in the postseason.

Brown is not going to leave Philly unless something catastrophic happens. Even then, Howie Roseman is not going to give him away for chump change.