Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman once said, “If you don’t take risks, you have no chance to be great.” This was a man so driven that he enrolled at Fordham Law just to gain higher ground on other people gunning for NFL front office roles. The New England Patriots came face-to-face with this drive when they tried to trade for AJ Brown, and couldn’t walk away unscathed.

“I don’t really care about the fifth-round pick,” Boston Sports Journal’s Greg Bedard said on 98.3 The Sports Hub. “But the league thinks that that was how Howie Roseman threatened to delay the timing. That Howie Roseman went to them, but like, ‘Now I want more than the 2028 first-round pick.’

“‘So in order to do right by my owner, we’re going to hang on to them through at least the mandatory minicamps around the league,’” Bedard continued. “‘See if anybody gets hurt, could hold them until training camp, who knows, but you know, that’s just not enough for us. So we want a sweetener.’”

A first-round pick was always going to be the price to bring Brown to Foxborough. But Bedard believes New England had to add the 2027 fifth-round pick on top of the 2028 first-rounder as the “sweetener” as Roseman had all the leverage in the world to pressure the Patriots.

The Eagles drafted USC’s wide receiver Makai Lemon this offseason, and already had DeVonta Smith as a veteran presence locking down the room. What’s more, even with all the times Brown expressed his frustration with the team throughout last season, Roseman could have just as easily not traded him.

The Patriots, meanwhile, needed a WR1 after they parted ways with Stefon Diggs. Roseman held all the cards and used them to get draft capital. Additionally, by waiting for the June 1 cutoff, the Philly divided a $43.45 million dead cap across two years and saved a little over $7 million in cap space.

“If we could find something that kind of achieved our goals of getting a first-round pick going forward here in the near future, getting the money back to spend on other players on our team and other teams, and it was a win-win situation based on where he was and how he felt, we were open to that.

“For us to take a 2026 pick, and that’s a late first-round pick, and obviously also have to deal with the cap consequences that come with making a trade prior to June 1, it made some sense for us to look at future picks,” Roseman said on Monday. “We’ve always been in the mindset that a pick is a pick – a first-round pick is a first-round pick. Doesn’t matter. Teams are still going to be playing football in 2028,” Roseman said 45 minutes after the trade.

The Eagles GM had tried a similar strategy with Carson Wentz back in 2021. Per reports, he wanted “a Matthew Stafford package” to move his quarterback. That translated to a quarterback, two first-rounders, and a third-round pick (what the Los Angeles Rams paid to get Stafford). While there were rumors that the Chicago Bears wanted to bring Wentz to the Windy City, no team other than the Indianapolis Colts joined the conversation. Philly ended up trading Wentz to Indianapolis for a 2021 third-rounder and a 2022 first-rounder.

Any leverage Roseman may have held at that point, it all disappeared because no one else bid. And that history almost repeated itself with Brown this year.

Back in March, the Rams were one of the teams looking at AJ Brown alongside the Patriots. For a while, it looked like the two franchises could enter a bidding war to get the 3x Pro Bowler. But the Rams looked at some of Brown’s preliminary medical reports and backed out. The Patriots were the only serious contender at this point, but the fact that Roseman got a bonus draft pick out of the deal shows just how desperate the Patriots were.

While analysts debate which team got the better end of the deal, the biggest winner out of this was, without a doubt, AJ Brown himself. And he has made no effort to hide the fact that he knows.

AJ Brown says, “This ain’t heaven, but it’s close to it”

After the trade became official, AJ Brown shared two pictures on Instagram featuring a younger self wearing Tom Brady’s No. 12 Patriots Jersey. He had watched the GOAT carve out six Super Bowl rings with the Patriots, and he only had one dream: to play with Tom Brady and the Patriots. Brady left the Patriots after the 2019 season, the same year that Brown got drafted to the Tennessee Titans.

Brown got picked 51st overall in the second round by the Titans, and immediately expressed his disappointment to the front office. Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel, who was the Titans’ head coach at the time, still remembers that moment.

“I think when we drafted him, he was like, ‘Oh, I wish the Patriots drafted me,” Vrabel recalled.

Brady was still playing football, and there was still a chance Brown could somehow catch passes from his idol. Part of that dream died when Brady hung up his cleats after the 2022 season. But the other part – playing for the Patriots – has finally come true, and Brown still can’t wrap his head around it.

“I’m just still in awe,” Brown said on Tuesday, still processing the fact that he was now a Patriot. “Walking up the hill with the uniform on, I was like, ‘This is real.’ Caught myself at one point in practice, I wasn’t paying attention because I was like, ‘Dang. I’m a Patriot.’ Just trying to take it all in as much as I can. Obviously, I got back to work quickly. But there’s levels to it. I’m enjoying it. Obviously, I know this ain’t heaven, but it’s close to it.”

Brown also refused to talk about his four seasons with the Eagles. “Moving forward,” he said, drawing the focus back to the Patriots. Brown notably had his knee drained twice a week throughout the 2024 season, and that was one of the biggest red flags the Rams walked away from this offseason. But when asked about his knee, Brown told reporters that there was “nothing to worry about.”

Howie Roseman got his sweetener. The Patriots may not have had any other choice, but with AJ Brown, they get a proven playmaker who will now live his dream on the field every Sunday. That alone might have justified giving up an extra draft pick.