Eagles' A.J. Brown Speaks on Relationship With Jalen Hurts After Brandon Graham Comments
The Philadelphia Eagles squeaked by the Carolina Panthers to win their 11th game of the NFL season on Sunday. But, contrary to popular opinion, winning does not cure all that ails. During the game star receiver A.J. Brown was visibly frustrated with how the offense was struggling and bluntly stated "passing" was the reason the unit was unable to get anything going when asked by reporters after the game.
This was interpreted by the larger NFL world as a criticism of quarterback Jalen Hurts. Longtime Eagles defender Brandon Graham fanned the flames of that narrative by saying on Monday that Hurts and Brown's relationship has changed in recent years. On Wednesday, Brown spoke publicly for the first time on the situation.
First the former All-Pro clarified that his postgame comments were misconstrued as a shot at his QB and he was moreso reflecting on the failures of the offense as a whole. Then he said outright that he and Hurts are "good" as far as their relationship goes and addressed Graham's comments.
"BG [Brandon Graham] was just being BG," Brown said. "He's emotional. In that case he just misspoke. Me and Jalen are good." Hurts had a similar sentiment to share on Wednesday.
Brown has 48 catches for 836 yards and four touchdowns through 13 games this season. But he's topped 100 receiving yards only once in the last month's worth of contests and has one game this season with double-digit targets. Much of that has to do with Philly's focus on pounding the rock given Saquon Barkley's incredible talents but it is clearly frustrating Brown to not see the ball as often as his talents suggests he should.
As long as all is well between him and Hurts, though, there's not much for the Eagles to worry about. It sounds as though that's the case.