Eagles' Jalen Hurts addresses rumors about relationship with Patriots' A.J. Brown

While meeting with media members on Tuesday, Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni did well to dance around a question related to the relationship between Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and wide receiver A.J. Brown, the latter of whom was recently traded from Philadelphia to the New England Patriots.

Brown previously said that nothing specifically "happened" between the two and that he and Hurts simply grew "apart." While speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Hurts seemed to want to put the Brown-related saga behind him. 

Jalen Hurts 'focused on the collective' after A.J. Brown trade

"I’m not in the place to challenge anyone’s perspective on anything," Hurts said about stories regarding what happened with him and Brown, per Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. "Seemingly so, it was. That’s where I am. I’ve always been focused on the collective. I’ve always put my energy towards that. As a leader, I’ve always put an onus on giving maximum effort to achieve the shared mission we have in the team."

Shortly after the Tennessee Titans traded Brown to the Eagles in the spring of 2022, he referred to Hurts as his "best friend. That seemingly was no longer the case by the time then-Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham said in December 2024 that Brown and Hurts "were friends before this, but things have changed." Graham later tried to walk those comments back when he claimed that he "made a mistake" and "assumed that it was something that it wasn't." 

More recently, a report from earlier this spring revealed that there was once a time when it was not "uncommon to see Brown and Hurts engaged in long conversations in the locker room postgame during media availability." However, it allegedly became "rare to see them interact in those types of public settings" by the time the 2025 season came to an end. 

Jalen Hurts now focusing 'on achieving great things with this new iteration of the team'

"You come into it, and you have a sense of pride in how it began, and definitely what we were able to accomplish," Hurts added about the end of his working relationship with Brown. "The same thing I said last time, nothing can take that away. For the great things that we did, now it’s time to focus on achieving great things with this new iteration of the team."

It remains to be seen how long Hurts will be with this version of the Eagles, as some think the club could accept calls about his availability in early 2027 if he fails to impress while playing under first-year offensive coordinator Sean Mannion this coming fall.