Brown discusses Hurts, Eagles in new interview
Mike Florio and Chris Simms react to A.J. Brown's comments on his relationship with Jalen Hurts and his tenure with the Philadelphia Eagles in a recent interview with Maria Taylor.
Video Transcript
Maria Taylor met with A.J.
Brown in an interview that you can find on YouTube.
We're gonna have pieces of it here.
We've got some posts at PFT with some of the salient points that were made, and the reality is, in A.J.
Brown's third season with Philadelphia Eagles, they won the Super Bowl.
So Maria asked him, what changed in Philadelphia after the Eagles got to the top of the NFL's mountain?
What do you think happened after Super Bowl LIX?
What changed?
I think the expectations that we placed upon ourself, became too much.
It's like you have to understand this city.
This city expects you to win every single year, and rightfully so.
That's what we work for.
But the expectations that we drilled in our, in our brain, it's like, "We have to win.
We have to win.
We have to win."
And you can become so overly focused, and you start pressing, and I think this team just started to do that over a period of time.
That's an interesting observation because if anything, the criticisms he was articulating during the season were that they weren't pressing enough.
They were being too complacent.
They weren't trying to get the offense better.
It all funneled back to Jalen Hurts and the frustrations that ultimately came to light, that he wasn't running the plays that he was supposed to run, wasn't going through the reads the way he was supposed to, playing his own game and knowing that there was nothing they could do about it.
So I don't know, maybe some were pressing because others weren't pressing enough.
Yeah, I think that, that can maybe be it.
I think he's gonna take the high road here.
He's not gonna say anything that's gonna be groundbreaking and like go, "Oh, that's what, that's what happened."
We've heard stories.
We've heard rumors.
You know there's things I know, all of that.
But yeah, I think just the expectations, and then when you got people like, you know, you and me and everybody else going, I mean, especially me, it's an all-star team there in Philadelphia.
Like, and yeah, winning against some of the teams they were winning go- win- like 17-14, you go, "That, that, that's crazy that that game had to be that tight that way."
And yeah, I think e- even within the quarterback having his own problems, other guys in the locker room are gonna take it upon themselves to be like, "Hey, what the hell's going on?
We're better than this."
And yeah, that can lead to people pressing, then, you know, n- not doing your job or trying to pick up for somebody else, or, "Ooh, I'm gonna help out and do this," and then you go, "Oh man, I didn't do my job."
And there just That can be a, a slippery slope when you start to do that type of stuff on a, in an NFL football field.
Here's a little more from A.J.
Brown with Maria Taylor on whether he thinks he handled things the right way near the end in Philly.
But not every moment I, I can say I handled the best way.
Mm-hmm.
You know?
especially the ones, was on social media.
Like that, that was just That was wrong.
You know, and me, me taking accountability for that.
But with my teammates, I feel like I handled the things correctly.
You know, we had tough conversations.
We had, face-to-face conversations, and, and we talked and we pushed each other, you know?
and we didn't really care who was uncomfortable.
Mm-hmm.
And I feel like as a leader, you know, sometimes, you know, that can be frowned upon from the media, but you know, it's always that one guy in that locker room who pushing guys and hold people, hold people accountable, and, and that was me.
Mm-hmm.
And I didn't, I didn't mind being viewed as whatever picture was painted up, painting me out to be, you know, 'cause I know, like, my teammates know, like, I had their back.
Made me think of that comment that he made about the offense needs to get better.
Yeah.
We made the observation he's going to be viewed as selfish, and he's actually being selfless, 'cause he's the one who's stepping into the criticism, which is obvious when any receiver starts popping off about not getting the ball as much as he should.
It's not that he wants the ball, it's that they want the offense to be better.
Yeah.
He want the offense to be better.
He took that heat gladly in an effort to make sure the Eagles were better prepared for single elimination football, and when it was time to host the 49ers in the wildcard round, what happened?
What happened?
Four verticals- Yeah, right in a bad spot.
Right.
And there went the season.
Right.
Yeah, I mean, the, really the, the worst play that you coulda ran against that defense and what the 49ers did.
And yeah, there was problems there, and I'm sure he's got a few regrets about how, yeah, he handled a few situations and maybe made it a little too public, but at the same time, yeah, I, I mean, I think you're saying it right.
He probably took it on himself.
I know he took it on himself to, to kinda like, "Hey, what the hell are we doing?
We gotta be better here."
And you do need somebody like that.
Y- every side of the ball, every unit needs a guy like that.
Sometimes you have a coach that can be like that and be on you all the time, but it is effective, that, that there's a voice with the players too.
And I certainly was on teams where, yeah, some of the players are gonna certainly hold guys accountable in the locker room if the standard wasn't met or if the, you know, it just wasn't executing the way it should be.
And that is part of the, you know, the NFL bylaws and everything you go through there.
But yes, as we know, it didn't work out, and they didn't meet expectations totally there, and I think that's why it continued to, you know, kinda spiral outta control.
And we know the Philadelphia Eagles were desperate to get A.J.
Brown out of there to just kinda quiet the noise so they could go forward and not have maybe as many distractions going forward here.
It really makes the fact that they got what they got so amazing.
No one else was a serious suitor for A.J.
Brown.
The Eagles were not a serious suitor to keep him.
You know, that's part of your leverage.
It's part of the Browns' leverage.
In the Myles Garrett talks, we're never trading him, we're never trading him.
That, that helps you get more for the guy.To get what they did when it was obvious he had to go, from a cap standpoint, from a relationship standpoint, and the Patriots are the only team out there, it is impressive.
I don't wanna heap unnecessary praise on Howie Roseman, and I'm never gonna heap unwarranted praise on anyone.
That's not this show.
If you wanna hear blind praise of anyone and everyone who ever lived or ever was involved in the NFL, there are other shows you can watch.
We're gonna give it to you real, and Howie Roseman knows what he's doing.
The fact that he got a one and a five under these circumstances is extremely impressive.
Yeah.
No.
Extremely.
It is.
Impressive.
Well, I think he could play the angle a little bit, 'cause I've been thinking about this too a little, of just that, he I would b- imagine he kinda s- you know, set a line pretty early on.
Like, "Hey, listen," you know, "Yeah, it's not perfect here, but we're not trading him unless we get this.
Like, it's not happening.
We'll deal with him here again and move forward if we don't get this.
We're not just gonna give him away."
And obviously, they started to get into some conversations where they felt like they were gonna get what they wanted, or at least in the ballpark, and that allowed them then to start making different moves in free agency and the draft to start preparing for life after A.J.
Brown.
but yeah, you're right, it is, it is amazing that, that Howie got it done without anybody else really getting involved.
I do wonder at what point they had the unofficial deal, because it wasn't just drafting Mekhi Lemon.
It was trading for Dontayvion Wicks.
It was signing Hollywood Brown.
It was signing Elijah Moore.
They were in the process of replacing A.J.
Brown months before they had to actually replace him.
One last thing, and remember, when this trade happened in 2022 that brought A.J.
Brown to Philadelphia, one of the first things we heard about is what great friends A.J.
Brown and Jalen Hurts are.
Great friends.
Jalen Hurts lobbying for the deal to be done.
Something went down.
Whatever it was, they've managed to keep it under wraps.
Maria Taylor asked A.J.
Brown about his relationship with Jalen Hurts and how it changed over the years.
Not as close as we once were.
And, I believe that's fine.
It's like, there's no bad blood.
there's actually still a lot of love.
I love him.
I love him to death.
I, I want him to succeed and accomplish all the things that he want to accomplish.
I didn't truly understand why our friendship became the public of, the center of everybody's, attention when it came to football, because, you know, looking back on it, you know, we haven't been as close as we were s- couple years now.
But that has, that didn't stop anything.
Mm-hmm.
You know?
we still competed, we still pushed each other.
We still led the team.
So, life happens, you know, and, you know, you just look up sometimes and you just, you find yourself drifting away, you know?
And, and that's fine, and I, I think both parties accepted that.
Very reasonable and fair explanation, but it is jarring when you consider that if you enter into a working relationship already a close friend of someone, you expect that relationship to at least remain what it was.
But who knows what happened?
And that's the great mystery in all of this.
Who knows what ultimately happened to cause them to begin to drift away.
It just doesn't happen spontaneously.
W- it's not like we have different interests now.
They both are football players.
Football is their life.
They're bound together by what they do most of the time for seven months out of the year.
So there's still an unanswered question, and who knows if we'll ever get the clear answer as to what caused Jalen Hurts and A.J.
Brown to drift apart, but I don't think it just kinda happened.
No, of course not.
I feel like something had to have happened.
Right.
I, I think something, probably a lot of stuff on top of that.
There's issues.
We, we know that.
I mean, the Eagles didn't You know, again, like you talked about.
The, the article about Jalen Hurts and all that.
There, there's concern about Jalen Hurts.
We know it's a big year.
Like you just mentioned a few, few minutes ago, he knew there was nothing he can, they could do to him.
So he's kinda just been like king of the world down there.
Now it's not gonna be that way.
They've sent warning signals there, right?
So there, there is issues there.
Then there's the offensive issues, and these guys are competitive guys.
And then Jalen Hurts is the godfather to A.J.
Brown's kid?
And, and Jalen Hurts, we've gotten that far to where we don't even go to Ja- A.J.
Brown's wedding?
That, that to me is, like, more than just we separated or apart here.
I mean, right?
I mean, you have a big wedding like that, even if you're not best friends, you, you, you, you, like, you, you still invite him as your quarterback of your football team that you won a Super Bowl with and all that.
So yeah, that's odd.
And then on top of that, just from a basic football sense, y- you don't hear about star receiver with star quarterback who've done special things on the field not liking each other often.
That doesn't go down.
That, that, it's just, it's unheard of.
I mean, Jerry and Montana got along.
M- Michael Irvin and Troy Aikman got along.
We know, you know, Sterling Shepard and, and Brett Favre are getting along.
I mean, it, it's throughout.
For sure.
Marvin Harrison, Peyton Manning, right?
So it's just crazy when you, you hear that, that that didn't, that didn't work out that way.
Hell, once Travis Kelce realized Patrick Mahomes was his money maker in Kansas City, he attached himself to Mahomes' hip- Right everywhere Mahomes went.
Right.
Remember that year- Gronk and Brady Texas Tech was making a run?
Yeah.
Texas Tech is making a run in the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship, and- Travis Kelce's got no connection to Texas Tech, but his quarterback does.
Yeah, I'll come.
I'll be there.
So he's there in the stands with him.
Right.
Everywhere he went.
Right.
I mean, that's the way it is.
That, that, it is the I, I, I mean, beyond the cynical side of it where, yeah, I need to be kissing this guy's ass, so that he'll throw me the football, there's a special connection there.
Totally.
There's something magical.
You know how that goes.
Yeah.
Where you're the guy who throws it, he's the guy who catches it.
It creates a special relationship that, that should thrive while the careers are still unfolding.
Exactly.
Not fizzle out.
Exactly
