Antonio Brown seemed intrigued by the idea of playing with Carson Wentz on the Eagles

Shortly after Antonio Brown was traded earlier this month, an ESPN report noted the Eagles “were players” for the seven-time Pro Bowl wide receiver. ESPN also downplayed the seriousness of Philadelphia’s interest in Brown, however, by characterizing the trade talks that “never got serious” as mere “due diligence.”

Now we have some more insight from the player’s perspective. Brown posted audio of a trade conversation with his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, on his “The Boomin Experience” podcast. I’ve highlighted the sections relevant to the Eagles below the following tweet:

BROWN: Philly got a first-round pick?


ROSENHAUS: I think they’d have to give up at least two first-round picks to get to the first spot. Other teams are trying to get there, AB. Ya know, man?

BROWN: That’s amazing.

ROSENHAUS: It’s competitive. Yeah, well listen, if it’s not the Raiders, we’ll make it work with the Eagles. Or the Patriots. Or the Titans.

[…]

ROSENHAUS: I really want you to have a good quarterback and I want you to be in a …

BROWN: A good situation.

ROSENHAUS: A winning environment, man. You know, New England and maybe Philadelphia, these are two of the last Super Bowl champs.

[…]

ROSENHAUS: We’re going to control that part of the trade and make sure it’s a good team and it’s a good quarterback. And you can’t get much better than the last two Super Bowl winners. You know, man?

BROWN: Yeah, Carson Wentz, that’s a win-win.

[…]

ROSENHAUS: The teams that want you right now are New England, Philadelphia, Tennessee, Washington, and Buffalo with Oakland still in the picture.

[…]

ROSENHAUS: I would put the Eagles and Patriots among the top two teams [in terms of where you should go.]

Interesting stuff. Some thoughts.

• Some are taking this audio to mean the Eagles were super interested in Brown but it seems to me like it’s the other way around. Rosenhaus seemingly wanted to push Brown to Philly. That’s not to suggest the Eagles weren’t interested at all ... just that I think the Eagles would’ve pushed a lot harder if they were really hot after him.
• It’s cool that a future Hall of Fame talent like Brown was intrigued by the idea of playing with Wentz and actually name-dropped the Eagles quarterback.
• It clearly didn’t take “two first-round picks” for a Brown trade to get done. The Raiders only gave up a 2019 third-round pick and a 2019 fifth-round pick to the Steelers. Oakland also gave him $30 million extra in guaranteed money.
• It’s interesting to think about the scenario in which the Eagles actually did trade for Brown. They’re probably not trading for DeSean Jackson at that point, right?. Is Nelson Agholor still being retained at $9.4 million?
• Do you think the Eagles should’ve traded for Brown?