June 01, 2026
Fans packed Lincoln Financial Field on a humid August night, just waiting for any kind of sign to lose their mind over.
Just something that said the Philadelphia Eagles were about to be special.
There was already a cautious optimism in the air.
Under first-year head coach Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts, thrust into the role of a first-year starting quarterback from the Carson Wentz fallout, the Eagles defied all expectations of an anticipated rebuild the season before, and instead rallied into the playoffs as a run-dominant team that had to be taken seriously again.
They were good. They suddenly had a solid enough mix of driven youth and veteran wisdom, and then they went and made a draft night splash of a trade with Tennessee for A.J. Brown – the Titans' former top receiver, who had a tight friendship with Hurts going back years.
Those next few months in Philadelphia became rife with speculation, and hope, of what the Eagles were about to be, of whether Hurts was really a long-term, franchise-level quarterback, of how Brown was going to fit into it all, and where the team's ceiling really was.
Then came that night in August, under the stadium lights of the Linc.
Jalen Hurts caught a low snap from the gun, yet no sooner recovered to wind up on a deep ball down the right sideline.
Brown, with veteran cornerback James Bradberry glued to him, chased after it and tracked the pass down. He was clearly bigger, and stronger, and through the battle for leverage, Brown dove toward the goal line to make the catch, going sliding into the yet-to-be painted end zone grass for a perceived touchdown.
And that's when everyone in the stadium knew, not during an actual play of an actual game, but on a glorified training camp practice rep.
But, really, that's all Eagles fans needed in the moment.
Here is the 30 yard TD pass from Jalen Hurts to AJ Brown beating James Bradberry, who had good coverage
— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) August 7, 2022
AJ Brown celebrating with Eagles fans
🎥 @EROCK_Eagles pic.twitter.com/xSdrNRQJ8z
Here was a wide receiver, a true No. 1 for a franchise that so often failed to find one, built like Terrell Owens, their notorious last one, and seemingly just as talented.
And there was a quarterback in Hurts, who for whatever questions he had surrounding him as a starting quarterback, showed sure enough that he can launch a ball up for his top guy, a lot like Donovan McNabb some 20 years ago.
That night, that sign, came on Aug. 7, 2022.
Six months later, on Feb. 12, 2023, Hurts, Brown, and the Eagles were battling the juggernaut Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 57, falling just a field goal short after having rolled straight through the NFC.
In between, Brown terrorized and even embarrassed nearly every defensive back sent his way. He caught 11 touchdowns, a franchise record 1,496 yards, and in that Super Bowl, one bomb of a scoring catch for the lead.
And defenses were left powerless to do anything about it, because Hurts either fed the ball to him or DeVonta Smith, who was just as lethal in a different way on the other side.
Brown was special, those 2022 Eagles were special, and most knew it that night in August, or caught on throughout the next several months, when it felt like nothing on the planet was going to stop them – except for that damn slippery field.
They were special again two years later in 2024, immortal even, when they leaned fully into the run behind a once-in-a-lifetime season from Saquon Barkley, but then had the firepower to completely dismantle the Chiefs the next time around, with Brown cutting across the middle and then into the end zone on the way to an all-time Super Bowl blowout – and Philadelphia's second-ever Lombardi Trophy.
But there were the signs of something else, too.
It's June 1, 2026.
A.J. Brown isn't a Philadelphia Eagle anymore – finally. He was traded to the New England Patriots, the long-believed suitor, for a first-round pick in 2028 and a fifth-rounder in 2027, once the NFL's post-June 1 designation made the dead cap money manageable on Philadelphia's end.
For a year and a half, even while the Eagles were in the middle of a Super Bowl-winning season, there was growing speculation, perceived and even publicly stated frustration, and then eventually, trade rumors that pointed to Brown wanting to be elsewhere, and the Eagles soon enough appeasing to it.
Then last year's stall-out of the offense, faceplant in the Wild Card against the 49ers, and resulting overhaul of the offensive coaching staff brought it all to a boiling point.
Something happened.
The friendship between Brown and Hurts wasn't the same anymore, which was visible, though never completely addressed publicly, aside from that initial slip from veteran Brandon Graham in the early part of 2024 that something had changed.
And the joy Brown played with looked like it was fading, which the Super Bowl win masked for a bit, but couldn't once the Philly offense devolved into a banged-up, predictable, and uninspired mess in 2025, which he pretty agreeably called out.
His stay in Philly was ending, and the signs of that were becoming clear, too.
There were the painful ones of those crucial drops in the Wild Card loss to San Francisco, the tedious ones of New England always popping up in the conversation for him, and then the once of acceptance when the Eagles used their first-round pick on USC receiver Makai Lemon.
It was time to move on.
A.J. Brown still reached 1,000 yards receiving even through a down last year in Philly.
After that open practice at the Linc going on four years ago, Brown couldn't help but talk about the rush of that night.
He said he had a rule of never diving after a ball in practice, but with a big smile on his face, he said something about the way the Eagles fans showed up for the team compelled him to make an exception and go all out.
"They were showing love, and I was feeling the energy," Brown said. "I felt like I was in game mode."
It was special.
The four years that followed, with two Super Bowl runs, a win of the latter one, and all those amazing catches in between were, too.
And looking back, now that it is finally over, that should be how Brown's run as an Eagle is remembered.
Because everyone knew, soon after he first got here, that things were different.
SIGN UP HERE to receive the PhillyVoice Sports newsletter
Follow Nick on Twitter: @itssnick
Follow Nick on Bluesky: @itssnick
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports
