Following his trade to the New England Patriots, wide receiver A.J. Brown opened up about his time with the Philadelphia Eagles, including his relationship with former teammate and quarterback Jalen Hurts. 

“Not as close as we once were,” Brown said in an interview with Maria Taylor on the 7 PM in Brooklyn show. “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 want him to succeed and accomplish all the things that he wants to accomplish.”

Hurts and Brown were best of friends since Hurts' Alabama days. At that time, Hurts had tried to recruit Brown to come to Alabama, and the two became inseparable.

But they both drifted apart, and Hurts recently made news for not attending Brown’s wedding in May. 

“People just grow apart," Brown added. "Nothing happened between him and me or our families, our wives, or anything. But life happens; you just look up sometimes, and you just find yourself drifting away, and that's fine. And I think both parties accepted that.”

It has been two long years since there have been reports about tension between Hurts and Brown. Last season, Brown made it pretty clear that there surely was disappointment on his part for not being targeted more frequently.

“I didn't truly understand why our friendship became the center of everybody's attention,” Brown said. “When it came to football, looking back on it, we haven't been as close as we were a couple of years ago, but that didn't stop anything. We still competed, we still pushed each other, and we still led the team.”

The two played together in Philly for four years and won a Super Bowl in the process. The Eagles defeated the Kansas City Chiefs (40-22) in Super Bowl LIX, with Hurts earning Super Bowl MVP honors for his performance in the 2024 season.

Trading him post-June 1 allows the Eagles to spread the dead cap over two years: $16.35 million in 2026 and $27.1 million in 2027.

Despite his production with the Eagles, Brown was traded as part of a strategy that allowed the Eagles to secure a first-round pick and develop the team further by saving cap space.

Eagles Landed Key Draft Capital in Brown Trade 

Howie Roseman, the general manager of the Eagles, expressed his satisfaction with the Brown trade, where the team secured a 2028 first-round pick and a 2027 fifth-round pick.

“I think from our perspective, getting a first-round pick for our team, having two first-round picks in ‘28, is a huge, huge part of this move,” Roseman said after trading Brown. “We’ve always been in the mindset that a pick is a pick—a first-round pick is a first-round pick. Doesn’t matter. Teams are still going to be playing football in 2028." 

He also reflected on his conversation with Brown being positive and productive, and considered the trade to be a win-win situation for both sides.

Brown demanded a trade during the 2025 season, feeling dissatisfied with his position on the team, and wanted a fresh start at this stage of his career.

How do you feel about A.J. Brown getting traded to the Patriots? Let us know in the comments.

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Written by

Archana Ramakrishnan

Edited by

Shubhi Rathore