Jason Kelce sounds off on AJ Brown trade to Patriots, what's next for Eagles offense

Former Eagles star Jason Kelce offered a fairly substantial defense of recently traded standout AJ Brown on the New Heights podcast. Brown was dealt to the New England Patriots after growing unhappy with his situation in Philadelphia.

For Kelce, the move was certainly understandable. So he doesn’t necessarily get some of the criticism being fired Brown’s way.

“Here’s the reality. AJ Brown was not the reason the Eagles’ offense was not successful last year,” Kelce said. “He’s a very good football player. I don’t want to hear all this, ‘Has he lost a step?’ We’re going to find out this year. I think he’s going to have a really good year.”

After tallying nearly 1,500 yards receiving during the 2022 and 2023 campaigns, AJ Brown’s production had tailed off a touch in the last two years. He still topped the 1,000-yard mark in 2024 and 2025 but his impact wasn’t quite the same.

Things began to deteriorate around him. That’s where Kelce sees a defense of Brown.

“How does a relationship like this start to falter?” he asked. “It’s because you don’t have success on the field. You stop executing as a team, you stop executing as players. The Eagles offense had continued to decline as a passing game. The run game stalled out last year with injuries and other things happening. Execution fuels emotion. When you’re not performing, this is the reality of the league, this the reality of how it goes.

“Do I wish AJ would have handled it better at times? Yes, but I don’t fault him for being frustrated that he wasn’t getting what he wanted out of the game and out of playing for the Philadelphia Eagles.”

How will Philly fare post-AJ Brown?

The good news for Eagles fans? Kelce sees a way the franchise can still pick things back up in a world without AJ Brown.

“He’s not the only one frustrated,” Kelce said. “Here’s the reality. They’re changing completely what they do. The offense had grown stale. AJ didn’t have an issue in 2022 when there was the most explosive offense in the NFL, when they go out in the Super Bowl against [the Chiefs], even though we lost, they put up tons of numbers.

“It only happens once teams start to get a bead, we didn’t adjust well, whatever it is. There’s all these litany of things that could have caused the Eagles offense to decline over the last three years. That’s why this has happened. So now they get to try to reinvent themselves into the explosive offense they can be with Sean Mannion.”

Without AJ Brown, can Philly find its footing. We’ll see, Kelce said.

“This is a big year for Jalen (Hurts),” he said. “It’s a big year for the Eagles offense. They just lost one of their best players. They drafted a young kid in Makai Lemon who seems like he’s the real deal and fits the offense very well. They still have DeVonta Smith, Saquon Barkley, Dallas Goedert, a great offensive line as long as they’re healthy, and Jalen Hurts. They have plenty of guys to work with still. Now we get to see what it looks like with a fresh start offensively.”