Eagles WR A.J. Brown Readying to Deliver Encore from Last Year: 'Sky's The Limit'

Philadelphia Eagles receiver A.J. Brown didn't want to name anything specific about what he needs to work on, but preparations to build on what was a record-setting season last year are underway.

He broke a 39-year-old franchise record for yards receiving, setting a career-high in yards and catches while tying another in touchdowns along the way.

That makes an encore extremely challenging for A.J. Brown.

The Philadelphia Eagles receiver seems to understand that and wasted little time in diving into the work that needs to be done to, at the very least, replicate those numbers in 2023 if not better them.

Shortly after losing to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII, he went to work.

He watched tape of every game from last season, his first with the Eagles. And what a season it was as he finished with 88 receptions for 1,496 receiving yards to break the previous mark held by Mike Quick in 1983, and 11 touchdowns.

“There’s a lot I can improve upon,” Brown said. “I don’t want to name it, but just being a complete receiver. I can always just work on getting in better shape so I can have more opportunities, but just trying to be that well-rounded receiver and do it all. I have goals of my own and definitely trying to achieve those. The sky’s the limit.”

Brown mentioned it once before that he would like to have a Hall of Fame career, so you know that is one of his driving forces in continuing to improve in whatever little detail he can find.

Set to turn 26 in June, Brown already has 273 catches for 4,491 yards and 35 touchdowns in four NFL seasons. A few more like the one he just had and that could become a reality.

Still, it was interesting to hear Brown talk about conditioning after playing 85 percent of the offensive snaps last year, logging 1,004 of them.

That doesn’t speak to an out-of-shape receiver.

DeVonta Smith, though, played more snaps, getting 1,083 for 92 percent.

Brown missed the first week of the team’s offseason work because he said he wasn’t “in the progression that I needed to be to be here.”

What that means isn’t clear, but he also said that he and quarterback and close friend Jalen Hurts didn’t do much offseason work together, either.

“As we got back here, me and Jalen are starting to crank up working out and everything, but we just took some time to work on the fundamental of things,” he said. “He needed to do what he needed to do, and I needed to do what I needed to do.”

With Smith, tight end Dallas Goedert and now a running back in D’Andre Swift who is adept at catching passes out of the backfield, Brown knows opportunities aren’t as available as they may have been before he was traded to Philly from the Tennessee Titans last April.

“We have so many guys and so many playmakers,” he said. “I just feel like there are only so many opportunities and you have to make the most of the opportunity.”

Brown wants to be sure he’s ready for whatever opportunity comes his way, and he is well underway to making that happen.

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Ed Kracz covers the Philadelphia Eagles for SI's EaglesToday.

Please follow him and our Eagles coverage on Twitter at @kracze.

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