Don’t get it twisted: A.J. Brown, like Carson Wentz, betrayed Philadelphia and his Eagles teammates
The uber-diva, in pursuit of bigger numbers, hung his bosses, his fans, and his teammates out to dry.
A.J. Brown now is a Patriot, an ironic misnomer since he’s such an obvious traitor.
Philadelphians generally seem relieved that Brown’s diva act no longer will be a distraction for a perennial title contender. That’s just A.J. fatigue. What he has done is no better than what Carson Wentz did five years ago: hamstrung his franchise, dissed the fan base, and hung his teammates out to dry.
After Brown signed a three-year, $96 million contract extension in April 2024, he spent most of the next two years complaining. His main complaint: His skills were being wasted in an Eagles offense designed by Nick Sirianni and quarterbacked by Jalen Hurts, even though it was potent enough to win Super Bowl LIX.
Marcus Hayes alerts
During the 2025 season, Brown reportedly requested to be traded. He greased the rails to that end, continually whining, culminating in a midseason social media post in which he called the offense a “[bleep]-show.”
That prompted owner Jeffrey Lurie to publicly meet with Brown, after which Brown refrained from further criticism. However, at that point, it became inevitable that Brown would be traded.
And that, inevitably, would hurt the team.
Before the draft in April, sources say Howie Roseman asked for a first-round pick in 2026 or, at worst, in 2027. Nobody bit. On June 1, the first day of a new league year, when a salary cap hit would be spread over two years, Roseman settled for a first-round pick in 2028 and a 2027 fifth-round pick.
» READ MORE: Howie Roseman got the first-rounder he needed for A.J. Brown in case he has to draft a QB to replace Jalen Hurts
That’s going to hurt.
It will hurt the fans, now deprived of supporting the best receiver in franchise history.
It will hurt the front office, since Brown’s departure will dent the salary cap $43 million, the fourth- (or fifth, depending on how you look at Daniel Jones and the Giants)-highest amount of dead money ever absorbed and the most dead money of a non-quarterback.
More than anyone, though, it will hurt his teammates.
Why?
Because the Eagles cannot immediately fill the talent void left by Brown. This is partly because Brown has cost them so much money against the cap, so the Eagles would not be able to sign a player of his caliber. Which means there is a massive drop off in total roster talent.
This leaves the rest of the players in a difficult spot.
Every player has a finite window in which he can win. Over the past few seasons many of the current Eagles had a choice of where to play, and many chose the Eagles because the Eagles had an elite roster, and no skill player on that roster was more elite that Brown.
His 14.8 yards per reception rank first among receivers with at least 275 catches since 2022. His 5,034 receiving yards rank fifth. He is different.
When Brown signed his extension, Eagles in the locker room, Eagles in the coaches’ offices, and Eagles in the executive suites reasonably expected at least four more seasons of this sort of production from Brown.
Instead, they have a $43 million hole on the ledger over the next two years. In the short term, at least, this could be catastrophic.
It was nearly so last time.
Carson Wentz
The reason Ginger Jesus went Judas on the Birds differs from Brown’s, but it is no less shameful.
Wentz resented that the Eagles took Hurts in the second round of the 2020 draft. This, despite their stated intent to use Hurts as a long-term insurance policy against Wentz’s frequent injuries. In the meantime, Hurts would be used as a gimmick player, in the manner of Saints utility man Taysom Hill.
Wentz then was outraged when he was benched late in the 2020 season after throwing 15 interceptions and taking 50 sacks, numbers that would lead the league at the season’s end despite Wentz playing in just 12 games. After the season, after getting coach Doug Pederson fired, Wentz still forced a trade.
That carried a $33.8 million cap hit, which was the NFL record at the time. Hurts took over as a second-year project quarterback of a team in disarray coached by a relative unknown in Nick Sirianni.
As it turns out, Wentz had a little bit left.
» READ MORE: Good riddance: Superdiva wideout A.J. Brown’s talents couldn’t compensate for all of the headaches
He rebounded with 27 touchdown passes with seven interceptions and rebounded with a 94.6 passer rating in 17 starts for the Colts, who, with an inferior team, matched the Eagles’ 9-8 record but missed the playoffs. Hurts threw 16 TDs with nine picks (but added 10 rushing scores) and was horrid in a playoff loss.
It began something great. Wentz’s career fizzled as Hurts led the Eagles to two Super Bowls. But, in 2021, it wasted a prime year for such players as Lane Johnson, Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham, Jason Kelce, Darius Slay — players who chose to remain Eagles with the understanding that Wentz would be their quarterback.
Why would they expect that?
Because in June 2019, Wentz had signed a four-year, $128 million contract extension … that didn’t kick in until 2021.
That’s right.
Wentz took a $66 million bonus to play for the Eagles from 2021 to 2024, but he didn’t take a snap for the team in that span.
Not bad work if you can get it.
No pain, no gain?
Fate, genius, and effort combined to make lemonade from Wentz’s sour grapes.
Fate, in that Wentz stayed healthy enough to convert the conditional pick in 2022 into a first-rounder.
Genius, in that Roseman used the first- and third-round picks from the Wentz trade as part of the capital to add DeVonta Smith, Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, and, yes, even Brown. Can he do the same with the less valuable haul from Brown’s trade?
Effort, in that no player in the NFL has worked harder at becoming the best player he can be than Hurts. He has his limitations, but Hurts is a Super Bowl MVP with three Pro Bowl nods.
If you’d like more irony, then you might like this:
If Hurts doesn’t produce in the offense of new coordinator Sean Mannion, then Roseman might have to use the first-round pick he got by trading Brown to draft Hurts’ replacement.
You know who’d help Hurts produce in the new offense?
His former good buddy, Arthur Juan Brown.
