I think I can safely say that we are all tired of the will they or won’t they trade AJ Brown no matter which side of the discussion you sit on. So let’s discuss something different. What non-AJ Brown under the radar player that is currently on the roster do you think is most likely to be traded between now and the start of the season?
I’ll start: Tyler Steen
Tyler Steen was a serviceable OG last year with a PFF grade of 73.4 (put whatever weight on that that you desire), which ranked 13th amongst guards in their rankings. I think we can easily say that Steen was not the cause of the offensive line’s drop-off in play last year and that he is a decent starter in the league.
So why would the Eagles trade Steen especially when we have concerns for Landon’s and Cam’s longevity? Well, for one thing he is in the last year of his rookie contract so if they are going to capitalize on his value, this is the year to do it and there are a ton of teams that need OL help. Marry that with the fact that we are likely to draft 1-2 OL in the first few picks in 2026 and suddenly the OL room is crowded:
Mailata, Dickerson, Jurgens, Steen, Johnson, Drew Kendall, Miles Hinton, Connor Williams, Willie Lampkin, Hollin Pierce + 2 high draft picks. That’s 12 OL for what typically amounts to 9-10 rostered players along with a couple stashed on the practice squad.
The issue with extending Steen is that 4 other linemen are making top tier money at their positions and the offense needs to get younger and cheaper as the defensive stars are getting ready to be paid (or in the case of Davis already being paid).
Note that Steen is a fine guard and the Eagles would be better having him on the roster for 2026. He’ll likely get a decent long-term extension that still will command north of $13-14M/year (for reference, Seumalo got 3yr/$31.5M and is 32 years old and was ranked just behind Steen, who is 7 years younger). Is that affordable for the Eagles? Sure, but they are going to have to make hard decisions and for this exercise, the cost vs replacement and savings with a rookie contract is the deciding factor when considering future cap allocations.