Howie Roseman explains being proactive in signing A.J. Brown to contract extension

The Eagles made a splash on Day 1 of the NFL Draft even before the Commissioner took the stage, announcing they had signed A.J. Brown to a three-year extension. When Howie Roseman spoke to reporters following the first round, he also addressed Brown’s historic deal, and why it was important for him to work on this even on draft day.

“We try to be proactive to try and keep this team together.”

Roseman noted that everything starts with team CEO Jeffrey Lurie and his support, as he mentioned in the pre-draft press conference, with the goal being to keep everyone together as best they can.

“The only way we can possibly do that, is by doing deals early, and we felt like it was an opportunity to do that here with A.J. [Brown]. Obviously, we’ve done a bunch of deals with a bunch of our players and we want to add to that, and we want to try and keep this team together as much as we possibly can.

We couldn’t do that without [Brown’s] support and allowing us to do that, and we felt like the earlier we did that will be better for us and him — and him knowing that he was going to be here.

He’s a great player and captain of this team.”

Roseman acknowledged Brown’s phenomenal start to his career, pointing out that he’s still young, and emphasized the importance of being able to keep that core group of offensive players together.

Brown’s extension comes soon after DeVonta Smith signed his own big-money deal to stay with the Eagles through 2028. The elite WR duo will be terrorizing defenses together for the long term, and Smitty was quick to react to the news.