Ranking the 25 Best Eagles: A Perfect Puzzle Piece, A.J. Brown is No. 2

Eagles fans haven’t even gotten a chance to see him up close yet but that didn’t stop A.J. Brown from reaching the No. 2 spot on the Eagles Today list of the top 25 Philadelphia players entering the 2022 season.

Brown just fits the Eagles.

That sentiment is not just about this franchise’s recent inability to find difference-making receivers, something Brown proved to be in Tennessee, it’s about the 6-foot-1, 226-pound YAC machine looking like the final piece that could make the finished product come into focus.

Pre-Brown trade, a draft-night deal in which the Eagles sent the 18th overall pick to the Titans plus an additional third-rounder, and then gave the two-time 1,000-yard receiver a four-year, $100 million extension, Philadelphia was thought to have one of the worst WR corps in the NFL.

After it, the room was projected to be the fourth-best in the league by Pro Football Focus.

You don’t win games on paper, of course, but that’s the kind of bump observers around the league expect with Brown’s presence added to Nick Sirianni’s offense.

And that’s the kind of clout that will make you No. 2 on the list of the best 25 Eagles players even before you suit up.

The process behind the top-25 list started with Eagles Today site publisher Ed Kracz and staff writer John McMullen putting together their top 25 independent of each other’s and then assigning point values, with 25 points awarded to the player ranked first on each list, 24 to the player ranked second, and so on, with one point going to the player that was put 25th.

The highest ranking from either reporter broke any ties in the balloting.

Brown finished with 46 and was tied for the overall top spot but lost out in the tiebreaker. The Ole Miss product was No. 2 on Kracz’s list and finished No. 4 on McMullen’s list.

The Eagles invested so much in Brown for a host of reasons, starting with that inability to develop receivers in recent seasons (DeVonta Smith being the notable exception) but also because Brown just turned 25 on June 30 and has already produced two 1,000-yard seasons in Tennessee in what was perhaps the most run-heavy offense in the NFL due to the presence Derrick Henry

And Brown would have likely been three-for-three when it comes to 1K if a chest injury had not limited him to 13 games.

As a comparison, the last Eagles wideout to have 1,000 yards receiving was Jeremy Maclin in 2014 although Smith did get close last season with a franchise rookie record of 916.

Off the field, Brown is also extremely close to third-year quarterback Jalen Hurts and understands how to succeed in an offense that is run-heavy.

Before acquiring Brown, the Eagles spent weeks looking for an upgrade at WR getting derailed from Calvin Ridley by a gambling suspension, being outbid for Christian Kirk, and watching players like Allen Robinson and Robert Woods decide other cities were better fits.

In the end, the Eagles got the better player but had to pay a premium both in draft capital and finances to get it done.

“We found a perfect match,” star cornerback Darius Slay said. “He’s a great guy. I ended up playing against him probably once and his film, he’s aggressive, finishes the catches, runs through tackles.”

If you get what you pay for, buckle up. … The Eagles finally have their WR1.

“There's no projection there,” Sirianni said after the GM Howie Roseman pulled off the trade. “It's like, ‘Well, this is what he's going to be in the NFL.’ No, you've seen it. You've seen it for three years now."

THE COUNTDOWN SO FAR

No. 25 – Jack Driscoll

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No. 24 – Derek Barnett

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No. 23 – Kyzir White

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No. 22 - Quez Watkins

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No. 21 – Jake Elliott

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No. 20 – Isaac Seumalo

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No. 19 – James Bradberry

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No. 18 - Jordan Davis

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No. 17 - T.J. Edwards

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No. 16 - Miles Sanders

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No. 15 - Landon Dickerson

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No. 14 - Avonte Maddox

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No. 13 - Jalen Hurts

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No. 12 - Javon Hargrave

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No. 11 - Brandon Graham

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No. 10 - Josh Sweat

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No. 9 - Fletcher Cox

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No. 8 - Haason Reddick

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No. 7 - DeVonta Smith

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No. 6 – Darius Slay

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No. 5 - Dallas Goedert

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No. 4 - Jordan Mailata

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No. 3 - Lane Johnson

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No. 2 - A.J. Brown

-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen

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