A.J. Brown is a top-eight receiver in the league and very likely to be substantially better than anyone drafted at 15 or 101.
I went back 10 years, and here are the players selected at those respective spots:
2012- Bruce Irvin, Omar Bolden
2013- Kenny Vaccaro, Ace Sanders
2014- Ryan Shazier, Jaylen Watkins
2015- Melvin Gordon, Trey Flowers
2016- Corey Coleman, Charles Tapper
2017- Malik Hooker, Brendan Langley
2018- Kolton Miller, Ian Thomas
2019- Dwayne Haskins, Yodny Cajuste
2020- Jerry Jeudy, Dalton Keene
2021- Mac Jones, Ifeatu Melifonwu
It's obviously too early to judge the last two classes, but among the rest, 2015 is the only one you could remotely argue returns better value than Brown, and that seems like a stretch. PFR wAV for Gordon is 48, Flowers is 34, and Brown is already at 30. Gordon is entrenched as a 1B RBBC and just turned 29. Flowers has played 14 games and accumulated 3.5 sacks in the last two years combined. Brown turns 25 this summer and is a proven talent. The only questions are 1. whether he can stay health, or if missing 3-4 games a year is the norm, and 2. Whether Philly will let Hurts pass enough, or whether he's capable of passing well enough, to utilize him. If nothing else, you've put yourself in a position, similar to Miami, where your QB doesn't have any excuses if he doesn't perform and you have no qualms about moving on next year.
The trade with the Texans was a head-scratcher, but the trade for Brown was tremendous value.
