Breer's Takeaways: How the A.J. Brown Trade Finally Got Done, and the Browns' Future After Myles Garrett

Plenty to clean up post-June 1 in the takeaways. So let's dive in.

New England Patriots

The Patriots' pursuit of A.J. Brown happened over time. Obviously for head coach Mike Vrabel, there's a lot of background there, with the two having spent three years together in Tennessee. And for EVP of player personnel Eliot Wolf, this has been a while coming, too.

Wolf was assistant GM in Cleveland when, in 2018, he made a trip to Nashville during the Browns' bye week to see Brown's Ole Miss squad play at Vanderbilt. The team's scouts had written up Brown as an inside-only receiver, and with Cleveland paying Jarvis Landry big money to play slot receiver at the time, he wasn't much on the Browns' radar.

But what Wolf saw in person was, well, opinion-shifting. First, when he got up near him before the game, on the field, and saw how big the frame on No. 1 was, he thought he might be looking at a defensive end wearing a duplicate number. Then the game started and Brown took a three-step hitch and sped past the defense for an 84-yard touchdown.

After Brown's nine-catch, 212-yard effort-during which he broke the school's career record for receiving yards-Wolf called his college scouting director and asked, "Are we sure this guy can't play outside?" The rest, of course, is history. Brown was much more than a big slot. He showed that right away, going for 100 yards on just three catches as he, Vrabel and the Titans routed Wolf's Browns, 43-13, in Cleveland.

Anyway, all of it was part of the equation with the Patriots' persistence on Brown, who they finally landed last Monday for a 2028 first-round pick and a 2027 fifth-rounder.

Now here's the rest of the story …

• The Patriots have made a concerted effort, going back a few years now and particularly since drafting Drake Maye, of going after any top receiver who made noise about wanting to be traded the last few years. They went down the road on Brandon Aiyuk in 2024 with the Niners, but got shut down by Eagles GM Howie Roseman every time they checked in on Brown, including during the 2025 offseason and before the trade deadline in November.

• The first real conversation this year happened around the combine, and Wolf could sense a different tone from Roseman-the Eagles were willing do it, but preferred to go post-June 1, and they wanted a first-rounder and another high-end pick. Philly's model had been the Quinnen Williams return the Jets got from Dallas. The Packers/Raiders Davante Adams deal from 2022 was another comp that was floated.

• Meanwhile, Brown's camp gave the Eagles four AFC teams they'd be happy to land with: the Bills, Chargers, Chiefs and Patriots. The Bills traded for D.J. Moore soon thereafter, taking themselves off the market, while the Chiefs and Chargers didn't show much interest in a deal, leaving the Patriots, who hadn't put a first-round pick on the table yet much less a first-rounder and another high pick.

• The Eagles then went down the road with the Rams on a trade that would've been centered on a 2028 first-rounder, a first-rounder that, at the time, would've been three drafts away. The deal crumbled when the Rams couldn't work out a corresponding trade of Adams to another team, and with some concerns L.A. had over Brown's knee.

• Wolf had told Roseman, at one point, "If you get a 1 and a 2, go ahead and do it." But the Patriots never lost interest, with a dozen people who were with Vrabel in Tennessee vouching for Brown, and character crosschecks Pats people were doing with folks who'd been with Brown in Philly checked out, too. What stood out about Brown, even with all the drama he was tied to, was how he was described as a competitor, an alpha and a football junkie.

• Roseman and Wolf didn't meet face-to-face at the owners meetings in Arizona, but right around then, they picked talks back up. Roseman reiterated he'd need a first in return. Wolf was still unwilling to move his 2027 first-round pick, but they started to discuss making a 2028 first-rounder the focus of a deal, just as the Eagles had with the Rams.

• That was enough for the Eagles to give their trainers permission to talk to the Patriots trainers about Brown's injury history, which happened right around April 1. They passed along his scans-which were key, given that his degenerative knee condition, which he has effectively managed throughout his career, was what led to the Titans trading him in the first place back in 2022.

• By the draft in April, there was a level of confidence on both ends that a deal was coming. The Eagles told the Patriots they wanted a 2027 pick as well, but they were comfortable with the first-rounder coming in 2028. As such, the Eagles moved to replace Brown in trading up and selecting Makai Lemon in the first round. Meanwhile, the way the Patriots viewed the receiver class, their value wasn't matching up with how the players were coming off the board-so knowing Brown was likely on the way, they didn't spend a pick on the position at all.

• By mid-to-late May, the deal was essentially hammered out. Whereas the Eagles wanted the second pick involved to be on the higher end with the Patriots initially offering a 2027 seventh-rounder to go with the 2028 first-rounder, there was a logical landing spot in the middle that everyone knew was workable. So they resolved to finish talks on June 1.

• Then, last Monday, the Patriots, having acquired an extra fifth-rounder from their trade of center Garrett Bradbury to the Bears, offered the higher of their two 2027 picks in that round, and Roseman and Wolf pushed the deal over the goal line.

And so it closes the book on a highly successful, if turbulent, four years for Brown in Philly, with Vrabel getting his reunion and Wolf finally getting his receiver.

Baker Mayfield

There's nothing to worry about-yet-with Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield's contract situation. The most basic piece of the looming negotiation (you'll see in a second why I call it a looming negotiation) is that the quarterback wants to be in Tampa, and the Bucs want Mayfield as their starting quarterback for the foreseeable future.

Most of the time, when those two conditions exist at that particular position, a deal gets worked out. That's because having your quarterback in place and under contract is too important for those involved not to find a resolution.

But it did get folks' attention, and rightfully so, when Mayfield addressed the situation Friday.

"Yes, I would love to have a long-term deal done," Mayfield told reporters. "But they know my deadline: As soon as training camp starts, it's all ball. … Contract stuff, it's happening, it's starting, the talks and whatnot. But not anywhere close to what we were thinking."

I can translate. The Buccaneers recently sent Mayfield's camp an initial offer to kick off talks. Mayfield's group, led by agent Tom Mills, has yet to respond. Which is why this is still a "looming" set of negotiations. Technically speaking, there has been no negotiation yet.

Also, sure, Mayfield can set that deadline. But are we to believe that if the Buccaneers were to put what he wants on the table in, say, late August, that he'd say no on principle? That question is not arbitrary-it's relevant because of how Tampa has recently done business.

Last year, Tampa extended right tackle Luke Goedeke on Sept. 2 and cornerback Zyon McCollum on Sept. 5. The year before, they inked left tackle Tristan Wirfs to a monster, five-year, $140 million extension in early August. The one outlier here would be the deal they did with safety Antoine Winfield Jr. in May 2024, but that one had to be done earlier because of the rules surrounding the franchise tag.

As for what would be fair for Mayfield, I talked to a couple prominent agents on Friday to get their takes and the comps they raised were Jared Goff, Tua Tagovailoa and Brock Purdy, and in each case, they emphasized the importance of what Mayfield would get in the first three years of a new deal-the portion that would have the guarantees in it.

Goff got $153.63 million in the first three years of his deal, done in 2024; Tagovailoa got $149.17 million over the first three that same summer; and Purdy's deal, done last spring, had $115.34 million over the first three, in large part because the back end of his rookie deal had much less money on it than what Tagovailoa and Goff had left on their deals.

Anyway, the agents agreed that the baseline should be $50 million per year over the first three years of the deal, and a new-money APY (which is how most deals are publicly measured) higher than that. "There is very little argument Baker is worth less than 50 over the first three," said one agent. "If I'm Baker, I'm asking for 60 (per in new money)," said another.

For now, again, they're just getting started. So it's tough to make predictions. Other than it's a pretty good bet they eventually get something done.

Green Bay Packers

The Packers' receivers work post-Davante Adams' departure has been really impressive. It was four years ago now that Adams got shipped to the Raiders for first- and second-round picks. That April, and the April after, the Packers spent six draft picks on the position. Two were outside the Top 250 and deep in the seventh round. So what has become of the other four …

• The Packers wound up packaging their own second-rounder with the one they got from the Raiders (59 and 53, respectively) to position themselves to take North Dakota State's Christian Watson with the 34th pick in the 2022 draft. Watson, coming off ACL surgery, went for 35 catches, 611 yards and six touchdowns in just 10 games, all starts, last year.

• Green Bay then took Nevada's Romeo Doubs at 132, late in the fourth round, the next day. Doubs started 50 games, and played in 59, the last four years, piling up 202 catches for 2,424 yards and 21 touchdowns. And he has gone off in the playoffs-including a six-catch, 151-yard effort in Dallas three Januarys ago, and an eight-catch, 124-yard game in Chicago last year.

• In 2023, the Packers took Jayden Reed with the 50th pick, midway through the second round, and the Michigan State product went for 119 catches, 1,650 yards and 14 scores over his first two years, before injuries sabotaged his 2025 season.

• Three rounds later, with the 159th pick, Green Bay landed Dontayvion Wicks out of Virginia. Through three years, Wicks made 18 starts, and produced in 46 games (108 catches, 1,328 yards, 11 TDs), though the crowd in the receiver room limited his chances.

Four years later, Watson was signed first to a one-year, $13.25 million extension (after the torn ACL), then a four-year, $92 million extension and Reed got locked up as well on a three-year, $50.25 million extension. Meanwhile, Wicks was dealt for a fifth-round pick (153rd overall) that became Kentucky center Jager Burton in April, and a sixth-rounder next year-then signed a one-year, $12.5 million extension with the Eagles. And Doubs got a three-year, $51 million deal in New England, which will bring the Packers a comp pick.

So the Packers essentially got to pick two of their four young receivers to keep, and have 2025 rookies Matthew Golden and Savion Thomas ready to roll as Wicks and Doubs depart.

All in all, that's a job really well done.

Pittsburgh Steelers

The Steelers' edge investment is interesting. The importance of the position in Pittsburgh goes back to Bill Cowher and Dom Capers, who created a pipeline that has never run dry and served as a backbone for defenses that were perennial contenders and won two Super Bowls.

But even for the Steelers, this is a lot …

• Former Defensive Player of the Year T.J. Watt signed a three-year, $123 million extension last summer. He'll turn 32 in October and is coming off a seven-sack season.

• Alex Highsmith, who'll be 29 in August, had 9.5 sacks in 13 games last year, emerging as the top pass-rush threat Pittsburgh had last year, at least in how opponents saw them. He has two years left on a four-year, $68 million extension he signed in 2023.

• Nick Herbig, still just 24, broke out last year, posting 7.5 sacks, and was rewarded last week with a four-year, $100 million extension that'll run through 2030. He'll make a little more than $60 million in the first three years of that deal.

• Jack Sawyer, a fourth-round pick last year (like Highsmith and Herbig, taken in the 100-150 range), showed a ton of promise as a rookie, asserting himself as a core special-teamer while flashing with a sack, two picks, four passes defensed and three TFLs on defense.

So what does this mean for Watt's future? Does Herbig leapfrogging Highsmith contractually create a problem? Could Sawyer's continued emergence make someone expendable?

For 2026, it's a decent problem to have. All played a significant number of the defensive snaps last year: Watt was at 69.8% while missing three games; Highsmith was at 54.5% and missed four games; Herbig was at 54.4% and missed two games; and Sawyer was at 25.3% and played in every game). It should keep the heat on everyone to perform, and give new DC Patrick Graham a lot to be creative with. And after that, well, the bottleneck of talent certainly makes things interesting.

Cleveland Browns

The Browns' future looks bright. I know, I know. Probably not the week that Clevelanders are feeling that way, and I certainly get where those fans are sick of the routine of compiling assets only to see assets wasted away. But this is about more than just that.

Last year, the Travis Hunter trade was a pivot-an admission that the core around Myles Garrett had aged out-and an effort was made to push forward and create a young layer of talent.

The first step was taking advantage of the initial windfall. I'd say Cleveland checked that box with a rookie class of DROY Carson Schwesinger, Mason Graham, Quinshon Judkins, Harold Fannin Jr. and Dylan Sampson, plus two young quarterbacks. This year, it allowed for the Browns to land Spencer Fano, KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston within the Top 40 picks of the draft.

Schwesinger and Fano are 23. Graham, Judkins and Boston are 22. Sampson, Fannin and Concepcion are 21. Jared Verse, coming over in the Garrett trade, is 25 and lines right up with what the Browns are trying to build. And now, Cleveland has two first-round picks in 2027, two second-round picks in 2028, and two third-round picks in 2029.

That's a lot to work with. And if you believe the Browns' quarterback of the future may not be on the roster yet, then it certainly stands to reason that Cleveland has infrastructure with the potential to support and grow up with whoever that winds up being-and a crew with a timeline that lines up better with that QB of the future than Garrett would have.

That's no affront to Garrett, by the way. It's just the reality of the situation the Browns found themselves in. And, in a way, the cost of the Deshaun Watson trade …

More perspective on the Browns

... that cost is worth examining. In 2020, a young Browns team won 11 games under first-year coach Kevin Stefanski and with a 25-year-old Mayfield at the helm, then posted the franchise's first playoff win since reentering the league in 1999. Three years later, Cleveland won 11 games despite a revolving door at quarterback, and after a 2022 season that was sacrificed, in part, to the Watson acquisition as Watson served an 11-game suspension.

The bottom line is those were talented Browns teams, strong in the trenches, well-coached and capable of winning on big stages-and they proved it mostly because they did it as they navigated choppy waters at the most important position on the field.

Now imagine if Watson was the guy he was in Houston the last three years … We might be talking about the Browns now winding down a golden era, and Watson going forward on another contract, and he and Garrett helping to bring along the next era of Browns.

Instead, Watson is locked in a battle with Shedeur Sanders just to get on the field, Garrett's gone and the future is again uncertain for the Browns.

That obviously sucks for Browns fans. To me, it's also why, if I'm Jimmy Haslam or Andrew Berry, I do at least want to get a look at Watson in the fall. You've already invested $230 million in him and sunk a ton of time and practice and game snaps into making it work. The only thing that would be worse than seeing all that go for naught would be finding out in 2027 that he still has it as he plays for another team. So getting to make sure-100% sure-that you aren't missing on that would have some value, at least to me.

Chicago Bears

Count me among those that don't want to see the Bears leave Chicago proper. Maybe it's an old-school thing for me-but I like seeing teams in cities, rather than in some suburb off the interstate. There was a time, years ago, when people used to make fun of the Jets and Giants for their geography, calling them the Exit 16W Giants or referring to the Jets as playing in the "swamp." Now their physical location has become something of a model.

Along those lines, the Bears are following a blueprint that both New York teams and New England long ago drew, and that Dallas and the Rams have followed, and that Cleveland and Kansas City are now drawing again. It is, first and foremost, a business-minded idea.

Getting a big plot of land is, obviously, less complicated when you're buying up an old racetrack or are off a freeway exit in an industrial area, or you're in the middle of nowhere.

But that's not really it. Moreso, it's that so many of these owners now fashion themselves real-estate developers, and they know that if they create retail and residential property on the grounds, with a gleaming new stadium as the centerpiece, they can open up a brand new revenue stream that doesn't have to be shared with the players. It's smart, for sure, but it's not like it's some sort of public service they're doing. Again, it's business.

The Bears have now pitted two such properties-on separate sides of a state line-against one another in an effort to get the best deal possible. It's definitely a leverage play from that standpoint, and maybe the idea of going to Indiana is a bluff-we won't know on that part until there are shovels in the ground. But there's definitely something lost, too.

That, to me, is the feeling of a big game in a big city, like the Bears had on a Saturday night in January, that'll be impossible to replicate on a nondescript plot of land. Just watch the NBA Finals. Part of the reason for all of it-scenes you see of New York City celebrating its basketball team-is that the Knicks play in midtown Manhattan. I promise that wouldn't be the same if they were in Jersey. And it won't be the same with the Bears in the 'burbs.

Brendan Sorsby

Finally, we should have clarity on Brendan Sorsby soon.His team, captained by famed sports labor lawyer Jeffrey Kessler, asked for a ruling on his injunction by June 15, which is one week ahead of the deadline for the NFL supplemental draft. The case was heard last Monday. So we could get a ruling as soon as this morning.

The next steps will be pretty simple.

If Sorsby's team wins, then he's going back to Texas Tech, which put together a $6 million package to lure the Dallas area native out of the transfer portal. If they lose, he won't go through the appeal process. He'll apply for the supplemental draft and set up a pro day and perhaps some private workouts, to be held in the DFW Metroplex the week of July 5-12.

That's really the long and short of it. We'll obviously have more for you when the ruling comes down.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Breer's Takeaways: How the A.J. Brown Trade Finally Got Done, and the Browns' Future After Myles Garrett.

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This story was originally published June 8, 2026 at 5:00 AM.