The A.J. Brown, Philadelphia Eagles breakup is official, and the NFL world wants more details on how it came to an end.
It was evident to anyone who watched on TV or reporters who were boots on the ground that there was a growing divide between Brown and Jalen Hurts in the Eagles locker room. But what really became the tipping point between receiver and quarterback, or was there even a tipping point at all?
Eagles Legend Gives Honest Take On A.J. Brown, Eagles Drama
Eagles legend DeSean Jackson recently appeared on the “Up & Adams Show” and was asked about what led to the rift between Hurts and Brown.
“I can’t really point my hand on exactly what happened, but I just know I’ve heard a lot, and it was messy,” Jackson said. “It started off as being great friends, talking and hanging out, families hanging out, to them not even really speaking to each other in the locker room and on the field.
“It’s just a frustrating situation to see,” he added. “I know the type of player (A.J. Brown) is and what he brings to the team, but it’s unfortunate it just didn’t really work out.”
Even now, when Brown and Hurts talk specifically about each other, neither one says anything directly negative toward the other, but they just weren’t able to work together.
When Jackson was asked how the tension got so bad and why there was no way to fix it, he pointed to pride as the main factor.
“It’s personalities, man. You got personalities driven, you’ve got alpha males, that they all feel like they’re the best, the best in the world,” Jackson said. “I just think at the end of the day, it’s a lot of pride.”
Then he used an analogy of a relationship to further drive his point.
“You’re in a relationship with a woman, and sometimes you’re prideful, right? You know you messed up, but you don’t want to admit you messed up,” Jackson said. “So, I think in that scenario, in that situation, sometimes it’s too much to go fix. Sometimes you just like, ‘I’m gonna take the high road out, and I’m not gonna attempt to fix that because I know all the bad things I’ve done.'”
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“And I’m not gonna blame the bad on who, but I just know it’s a lot of bad that’s been done, and somebody in that scenario was like, ‘Hey, I’m not gonna make an attempt to fix it.’ And it is what it is,” Jackson added.
As for how the two will move forward, Jackson said there’s pressure on Hurts this season to continue performing at a high level. According to PFSN’s QB Impact Metric, the Eagles star posted an impact score of 78.1 last season, ranking 15th in the league, the worst mark of his career.
“I mean, I just think he (Hurts) gotta go out there and produce,” he continued. Production is the thing, so he has to go out there and continuously produce. He gotta go win games, and hopefully it doesn’t get too messy. Hopefully he doesn’t take a dropoff because he doesn’t have his No. 1 receiver, but he got other No. 1 receivers as well in that building.”
While there was plenty of personal, off-the-field conflict that went into the drive between Brown and Hurts, Jackson made it clear that it was a mix of football and personal. He said about 60% of the issues were due to football and 40% was personal.
The Eagles and Patriots won’t play in the regular season in 2026, but they will meet in the second week of the preseason.
