From the Delaware County Daily Times: https://tinyurl.com/2e8hayan
The Eagles arrived at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis this week with the kind of question that tends to follow good teams after a messy finish: Is their biggest offensive star staying put or about to become someone else’s centerpiece?
Coach Nick Sirianni and general manager Howie Roseman didn’t exactly pour water on the A.J. Brown trade chatter, according to multiple reports. They offered no promise the wide receiver will be back next season.
“My expectation is he wants to be here,” Sirianni said in a session with local media ahead of the combine. “And, obviously, you always you want good players like that in your building.”
Sirianni then ran straight into the reality of the NFL calendar — and the reality of his own job, too.
“Will A.J. be here next season? I mean, I think that we’re still in a spot like I can’t guarantee how anything’s going to play out into the next season. I can’t guarantee that,” Sirianni said. “I mean, I was thinking I’m going to be the head coach next season, but it’s like you can’t guarantee anything past tomorrow.”
Brown, 28, has been productive enough to make the question worth asking. He has topped 1,000 receiving yards in each of his four years in Philadelphia and has 339 catches for 5,034 yards and 32 touchdowns in 62 games here. He also has been the public face of their offensive frustration at times, including during a 2025 campaign that ended in a wild-card loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
Sirianni wasn’t interested in relitigating how Brown handled that frustration.
“You guys know me,” Sirianni said. “I’m not gonna say, ‘Hey here’s what I thought this player should have done.’ Just know I’m always communicating with our guys … because I think where you get in trouble is when the job description is not clear.”
What Sirianni did make clear was how much he values Brown inside the building.
“As Howie said, it’s hard to get good players in this league. A.J. is a great player and A.J. is a good teammate and A.J. is a good person,” Sirianni said. “And so, like I said earlier, yeah, does he want to be here? Yes. And do I want him to be here? Yes. So, you know, hopefully that works out.”
Roseman didn’t close the door on a trade, either — because he almost never closes the door.
“I don’t think you can go into any conversation with anyone and just shoot things down without hearing what they have to say, because you never know,” said Roseman, backing up MediaNews Group reporting that was published Monday. “You never know if someone is going to give you something that you didn’t anticipate and if you won’t even have the conversation, I don’t think you’re necessarily doing your job or really servicing the team that you’re with.”
Roseman framed it as diligence, the same way he talks about draft boards and contract structures. Listen first. Decide later.
“Without getting into specifics on any player, we’re always listening, and we’re always kind of open,” he said. “There’s very few things that I would shoot down without even hearing what that means, because how does it hurt to listen?”
Still, he paired that openness with a familiar roster-building philosophy — and a not-so-subtle reminder of what Brown is.
“It’s really hard to find great players. I think A.J. is a great player,” Roseman said. “We’re looking to improve in all areas, and you don’t do that by subtracting.”
Mannion’s blueprint
The Brown conversation is tied to something else the Eagles have been careful not to oversell: the scope of their offensive reset under new coordinator Sean Mannion.
Sirianni said the Eagles interviewed 17 candidates before landing on the 33-year-old former NFL quarterback, and he described Mannion as a coach whose “conviction” jumped out during the process.
“You just could tell right away how sharp he was and then we get him here to the building, it was very obvious,” Sirianni said. “When you do that and when you cast a wide net and you go through the process like that, it reveals itself to you of who the right one is.”
Sirianni also explained what he wanted to hear from a first-time play-caller.
“If I’m a leader, I need to go in there and I need to be like, ‘Hey, here’s what the f— we’re doing. And here’s why we’re doing it,’” Sirianni said. “And sometimes you don’t get that level of conviction unless you’ve really prepped for it, unless you really believe in it.”
The expectation, Sirianni said, is that the Eagles will look “very different” offensively — leaning into concepts from the modern West Coast coaching tree of Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay.
Sirianni reportedly had final say on hiring Mannion.
The Stoutland void
The offensive shift helps explain another combine subplot: Sirianni’s first extended comments about Jeff Stoutland’s resignation after 13 seasons coaching the Eagles’ offensive line.
“Obviously, he’s been such a huge, important piece of the puzzle of what we’ve done here,” Sirianni said. “At the end of the day, Stout got to where he was and I obviously wish him the best and I’m going to deeply miss him.”
Stoutland announced his departure earlier this month, writing, “I’ve decided my time coaching with the Eagles has come to an end,” and later adding, “I didn’t just work here, I became one of you. Stout out.”
Sirianni said the Eagles wanted Stoutland to remain but acknowledged the staff and scheme changes were pulling the offense in a new direction.
“And it’s a different … some of the things that we think we’re leaning towards doing is a different way of going about it, and (we’re) excited about that opportunity,” Sirianni said.
For now, the Eagles are living in the in-between of late February: saying Brown is a “great player,” saying Mannion is “sharp,” saying Stoutland will be missed — and saying almost nothing with the kind of finality that would make the questions stop.
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Follow Christiaan DeFranco on X at @the_defranc.