A.J. Brown was officially traded to the New England Patriots, and after months of subtle remarks on streams, he finally opened up in an interview with Maria Taylor about his time with the Eagles, when he knew it was time to move on, and admitted that he and Jalen Hurts are not as close as they once were.
Early in the interview, Taylor pointed to the the gigantic Patriots rug at their feet, with Brown admitting that was a feature of the room for awhile, even when he played for the Eagles. The wide
receiver said that his Patriots fandom has been consistent for him since childhood, and that didn’t waiver even as a player in Philadelphia.
Brown spent time talking about the 2022 season and how the team was in a flow state up until the Super Bowl. He said that it was an incredible game — even to go back and watch it now — pointing out that the Chiefs still couldn’t stop the Eagles offense, despite the result. And while it was disappointing, being able to see how close they were to winning made them realize that it was attainable goal.
The receiver credited the leaders in the locker room for instilling a belief in the team that they would be able to return to the big game and come out on top. Brown said when they got back two years later, they wanted to leave no doubt that they were champions.
“Everybody was overly focused — overly focused, overly ready. It was destined, and the results showed.”
As for what changed following the Super Bowl win, Brown said that the expectations they placed on themselves became too much to sustain.
“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 brain — we have to win, we have to win, we have to win — and you can become so overly focused and you start pressing. I think this team started just started to do that over a period of time.”
Brown went on to admit that he didn’t handle every challenge the best way, and said he shouldn’t have taken things to social media. Still, he stands by how he handled things with his teammates and acknowledged that some of the comments he made to the media were intentional — he knew that if Philly media and fans were talking about an issue, it was more likely to be addressed and fixed within the building.
When Taylor asked Brown when he knew it was time to part ways with the Eagles, the WR hedged and defaulted to the end of the season. Context clues throughout that section indicated that Brown was biting his tongue a bit, and didn’t want to divulge the whole truth.
Still, Brown said that he took the week leading up to the official trade to grieve and work through some of his emotions, admitting that he’s going to miss Philadelphia and his teammates. The wideout also addressed his relationship with Jalen Hurts as directly as possible, and explained that they simply drifted apart.
MARIA TAYLOR: How would you describe your relationship with Jalen Hurts right now?
A.J. BROWN: Uh … Not as close as we once were. I believe that’s fine. It’s like, there’s no bad blood. There’s actually still a lot of love, I love him to death. I want him to succeed and accomplish all the things that he wants to accomplish. I didn’t truly understand why our friendship became the center of everyone’s attention when it comes to football because looking back on it, we haven’t been as close as we were [for] a couple years now. But that didn’t stop anything. We still competed, we still pushed each other, we still led the team. It was just kind of strange, people just got so fixated on our relationship, and wanted to talk about— maybe because the history of this place, but that wasn’t what this was. I’ma say it to you, I’ma say it on camera, I have nothing but love for him. I want him to do well and accomplish everything that his heart desires.
MARIA TAYLOR: I think, at the end of the day, people always just want to know why and there’s an understanding that people grow apart. What is the best way you can put a description so people can understand?
A.J. BROWN: Yeah, uh, nothing happened. Nothing happened. People just grow apart. Nothing happened between me and him, or our families, our wives, anything. Nothing like that ever happened. But life happens and you just look up sometimes and you find yourself drifting away. And that’s fine. And I think both parties accepted that.
Brown called it a dream come true to learn he was officially going to the Patriots, and said the night before the trade felt like Christmas and said he was like a kid in the candy store.
