Just hours before they picked cornerback Quinyon Mitchell with their first-round pick in the 2024 NFL draft, the Philadelphia Eagles had an extension to make.
With three years still left on his deal, the Eagles made A.J. Brown the highest-paid wide receiver in football, giving him a three-year, $96 million extension on April 25. It will keep him in Philadelphia through 2029.
More than anything, what this extension does is give the Eagles an identifiable Super Bowl window. They are being spoiled with an abnormally long one.
What the Brown Extension Accomplishes
Brown will only be 27 by the time the 2024 NFL season starts and ends, so being under contract for six more seasons will take him through the rest of his prime but likely not have him overstay his welcome by too much, if at all. Already one of the best receivers in the franchise’s history; keeping him in Philadelphia as long as possible can only be a good thing.
With that aside, keeping Brown for such a long period of time gives the Eagles a pretty long window to win a Super Bowl. It’s hard not to be a competitive NFL team when you have a talent like him on the roster.
In 2019, the Eagles didn’t have a single wide receiver with 500 or more yards yet still made the playoffs. Since becoming an Eagle in 2022, Brown has nearly tripled that in both of his campaigns. A commodity like him is borderline generational, at least in Philadelphia.
The Birds shouldn’t have any wide receiver shenanigans for a long time with where they stand. At the same time, Brown makes that the case, it’s more than just him that does so. In fact, Philadelphia should have a star-studded squad for the long-term future aside from just their receiving core. The team, in general, is absolutely loaded with talent.
In Jason Kelce’s Words, “It’s the Whole Team!”
Brown is just one name on a pretty extensive list of Eagles with long-term contracts. Quarterback Jalen Hurts’ deal is good through the 2028 NFL campaign, giving the city of Philadelphia five seasons of the Hurts-Brown connection. That alone is pretty exciting to think about — the two have worked some magic together for what seems like forever, but in reality, it has only been two seasons. That’s not even 30 percent of how long their reign of terror is set to last!
The great news for Eagles fans is that it isn’t just Hurts and Brown. Another elite receiving threat, DeVonta Smith, is also under contract through 2028. He is still just 25.
While it’s true that the three have extensions worth $51 million, $32 million, and $25 million, respectively, those numbers aren’t too hard to swallow for a multitude of reasons. For one, the salary cap will go up — new “records” for contracts are set every season. Additionally, these contracts can always be restructured so the Eagles will be suffering much later down the line, or perhaps incrementally, so as not to plague the team with dead money well into the future. Most importantly, having three-star offensive players locked up for five seasons is a privilege. If you can do it, you do it no matter what. It’s a no-brainer, and GM Howie Roseman made it happen.
The best part is that it’s not just those three — how lucky! Guard Landon Dickerson and tackle Jordan Mailata don’t exactly play the flashiest position in the world, but it’s always nice to have two top-end offensive linemen. Just like Hurts and Smith, the Eagles have both of them under contract through 2028. Even Jake Elliott is joining in on the 2028 festivities, signing a four-year extension in March.
Just for fun, Roseman also went out and gave running back Saquon Barkley, edge rusher Bryce Huff, and safety Chauncey-Gardner Johnson three-year deals, keeping them under contract through 2026.
That is a pretty absurd amount of players to have under contract for three or more seasons. In doing so, Roseman has given the Eagles a Super Bowl window through, very likely, 2026 at the worst. Go through the list — some playoff teams in 2023 didn’t have anywhere near the level of talent mentioned, let alone under contract for five-plus seasons.
It is seriously ridiculous how long the Eagles’ contention window looks to be. Even Roseman himself knows how short that can be. After he won Super Bowl LII, it seemed like the Birds would be a powerhouse for years to come, but it just didn’t work out that way. He had to scrap everything and build it back up again. In the end, the roster wasn’t talented (or healthy) enough to compete consistently.
That shouldn’t be much of an issue this time. The Eagles are going for another Super Bowl, and most of the work has already been done.
It’s fun to joke about how good Roseman is at his job, but he has gone above and beyond this time.
Philadelphia is being blessed with what should likely be several years of high-end football. The Brown extension just cemented it for good.
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