Philadelphia Eagles: Jalen Hurts low-key lobbies for an A.J. Brown trade

The last time Jalen Hurts shared a Philadelphia Eagles offense with a player wearing the number 11, it didn’t go particularly well. His role was best described as gadgety, the defense qued in on his presence the second he took the field, and the results ultimately proved unsustainable.

Frankly, one could argue that things didn’t really take off for the OklaBama prospect until he was given free rein to play his game without his then-teammate on the field, as it allowed him to do quarterback things from the quarterback position sans another pass thrower on the field at the same time, but hey, that’s neither here more there.

When the 2021 season opened up, the Eagles made a concerted effort to keep the number 11 open, as they presumably didn’t want to draw even more attention to their former franchise quarterback, who was slinging passes in a number 2 jersey down in Indianapolis. While it obviously didn’t work perfectly, as the former player in question still has a solid fanbase in the City of Brotherly Love, and any time Hurts struggled, they started to chirp, but for the most part, the Eagles were largely able to avoid much of the awkwardness typically associated with making such a high-profile quarterback swap.

But eventually, someone is going to put back on a number 11 jersey. Like the first player to wear 36 – JaCorey Shepherd – post-Brian Westbrook, or the first player to put on 27 after Malcolm Jenkins was released heading into 2020 – Zech McPhearson – eventually, another player will have to put on a jersey that helped to define an era and try to impart onto it their own legacy.

If Jalen Hurts has his way, the next Philadelphia Eagles player to wear the number 11 will be A.J. Brown, who is his long-time friend and might just want out of Nashville before the start of the 2022 NFL season.

A.J. Brown would be an X factor for the Philadelphia Eagles at wide receiver.

Off the field, Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown are tight. They like each other’s social media posts, Hurts lobbied for Brown to join him at Alabama for the 2016 season, and the duo even share an appreciation for Kelly Green, the storied uniform color the Philadelphia Eagles will be bringing back in 2023.

Now granted, it’s normal for NFL players to have friends (duh). Players will spend time together at camps, play against each other in college, or even just play CoD together like Darius Slay and Rasul Douglas in their free time. What isn’t normal, however, is to see Brown commenting on a Hurts Instagram post with a “fingers crossed” emoji, especially when the OP responds with “I know.. I know.. that green hit different don’t it.”

Don’t believe me? Check it out here if you feel so inclined.

While the Tennessee Titans would surely like to keep Brown around, as he’s one of the best under-25 wide receivers in the NFL today, if their relationship is frayed and the team feels as though they could land a similar player on a much cheaper contract with a top-20 first-round pick – Treylon Burks? – maybe a general manager like Howie Roseman could swoop in and secure himself a proven commodity in the final year of his rookie contract – as he tried to do with Calvin Ridley – instead of hoping a college player’s game can immediately translate to the pros.

If that’s ultimately how things go down – which is far from a guarantee but has been hypothesized by multiple outlets – there’s a lot to like about A.J. Brown in Nick Sirianni’s offense, especially with DeVonta Smith, Quez Watkins, and Zach Pascal already in place. Measuring in at 6-foot-1, 226 pounds, Brown is a stocky playmaker built more like a running back than a wide receiver. Whether deployed on the perimeter or in the slot, Brown has a pension for picking up additional yards after the catch and is one of the few wide receivers in the NFL who can turn a simple screen pass into a 20 yard gain.

Over the past three seasons, Brown has recorded 1,145 yards after the catch, which accounts for 38 percent of his total offensive production. He’s got a nose for the endzone, picking up 25 total offensive touchdowns in just 43 offensive games, and even made it to the Pro Bowl in 2020, a feat he likely would have matched in 2021 if it wasn’t for a chest injury that cost him almost a month from just after Thanksgiving to just before Christmas.

Do you want a do-it-all wide receiver with a ton of swag and the measurables of a WR1? Brown is your guy. How about a player with not one but two 1,000 yard seasons since 2019, a feat no member of the Eagles has accomplished since DeSean Jackson in 2009-10? Brown can do that too. Really, the only knock most folks have on Brown is that he’s 6-foot-1 instead of 6-foot-5, which makes him a less than ideal target for 50-50 balls, but for a team like the Eagles who are looking for a guy who can make something out of nothing and something into something sensational, Brown is one of the better players in the entire NFL in that particular role.

Is that worth a first-round pick, even if he’ll surely ask for a very lucrative contract in 2023? Yes, I would say it is.

If reports are correct, the Philadelphia Eagles tried to trade for Calvin Ridley last month because they wanted to add a premier wide receiver with a pre-existing relationship with Jalen Hurts. While that ultimately didn’t work out for off-field reasons, that doesn’t mean the Eagles should poo-poo the prospects of securing another proven product at the wide receiver position, even if they have to pay a hefty price to get a deal done. A.J. Brown is one of the best wide receivers in the NFL who perfectly fits multiple roles Nick Sirianni would like to fill and has a very close relationship with his young, ascending quarterback. If he’s available, even for a first-round pick, Howie Roseman should get on the phone and play let’s make a deal ASAP.