A.J. Brown Doing More Than Just Catching Passes Since Coming to Eagles

PHILADELPHIA – Receiver A.J. Brown didn’t sign a $100 million contract on April 28 after the Eagles traded for him and vanish, biding his time until training camp started.

Nor does he seem like the type to go sit in his car after something goes wrong during practice and have lunch all by himself for days on end the way cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha did in the early days of training camp 11 years ago after signing a $60M deal with the Eagles, which was probably the equivalent to $100M today.

Brown is quiet, according to his new teammate, DeVonta Smith, who said as much following the Eagles’ first training camp practice on Wednesday, but he also seems to be more than just someone who catches passes for a living.

The fourth-year WR is willing to tap into the passion of Eagles fans, stand up for his teammates, and scour the internet for plays that might help him or other parts of the team.

"He's a soft-spoken guy,” said Smith. “I mean, he's not somebody that's going to be talking a lot. He's going to lead by example, but if he says something that needs to be said he's going to say it."

Brown took the field in front of fans for the first time at practice on Wednesday to a smattering of applause from the couple hundred fans in attendance.

“It was very passionate,” said Brown. “As soon as I came out here there were some cheers. I definitely feel the love. Ever since I’ve been here in Philly, the city has been showing me love and I appreciate it wholeheartedly. Now it’s my job to go do what I do, have fun, and play some football."

A.J. Brown following the first practice of training camp on July 27, 2022

Brown also signed autographs for fans afterward, and a day earlier was inside the team’s pro shop buying No. 11 jerseys with his name on the back for fans lucky enough to be inside.

“I was just in the area at the pro shop and I went in to see if my jersey was up, just having some fun,” he said. “I saw some fans in there and they were looking for some jerseys and I told them I’d buy them a jersey. I bought a couple of people a jersey. I just want to show love. I’m big on love and showing love. That’s just who I am.

“Fans out here are really passionate about this game, passionate about this team, the players, and I want to give back in any way possible even though that was something so small, but it puts smiles on people’s faces and that’s all I can ask for.”

Brown talked about seeing a play on Instagram, though he refused to divulge what it was for fear of a reporter tweeting it out. He did say it was a play involving Cam Newton.

“If I see something I like and it benefits me or the team, I’m going to help throw it in there,” he said. “Why not?”

The big beneficiary of Brown’s love for his teammates has so far been quarterback Jalen Hurts, one of his closest friends, though he, so far, has also spoken glowingly of Smith.

A July report from JAKIB Sports’ Derrick Gunn that Hurts had a horrible 10-snap series during a May OTA session was met with a tweet from Brown defending his QB.

“He’s the quarterback of the team, No. 1, and he’s my friend, No. 2, and the story wasn’t true, too,” said Brown when asked why he took to social media to address the report. “False narratives come out about quarterbacks, and guys have to understand, it’s practice.”

Hurts was asked what he knew about the tweet. He said that he called him on one random day just to check in and it happened to be at the same time Brown was crafting the tweet defending his QB.

“I said, ‘What are you doing?’” recalled Hurts. “It was in the morning time … He said, ‘I’m on Twitter, talking trash, whatever.’ I said, ‘What happened?’ He said, ‘They talking crazy. They talking about you.’ I’m like, ‘OK, what did they say?’ And he’s like, ‘some BS,’ and left it at that. I didn’t even know he did it, to be honest. It was casual to me. It must have been a slow day.”

Brown also showed up to camp wearing a hat emblazoned with “Hurts SZN” while even head coach Nick Sirianni got involved in showing Hurts some support, wearing a T-shirt with Hurts’ face on the front, though the coach said it wasn’t intentional when asked if it was to defend him against any outside criticism.

“No, no,” and left it at that, though he also joked, “Hey, he's our quarterback. This was I think the best one I had clean. I do my own laundry, so it was the best one I had clean and this is the one I picked.”

Whatever the reason, Brown picked up on it about halfway through practice.

“(I) was like, man that’s lit, your head coach rocking your T-shirt, your brand, that’s lit,” said Brown.

“I’m big on showing love and I showed up in the hat. I want to let everyone know it’s Hurts season. I’m excited for him. He’s working really hard and I’m going to be right beside him every step of the way.”

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.

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