Eagles' AJ Brown Stat Shows More Questions Need Answers Than Most Realize

I'm of the belief that the Philadelphia Eagles have some very important questions to answer over the next few months when it comes to trading A.J. Brown. At the same time, as I've said plenty of times, the Eagles made a smart decision in a sense by trading him. 

Brown is certainly an elite player, and there's no question about that, but at the end of the day, if he wasn't fitting in well with the rest of the offense, there's really no way the Eagles could continue to keep him on the roster. 

That's unfortunately what it seemed to be.

However, I think some people are forgetting just how good Brown really was. Again, we're talking about a guy who isn't some mid-18-to-25-ranked wide receiver in the NFL. In fact, we're talking about a top-five-to-10 wide receiver in this game, and some stats really do show that.

“Two mainstays of the Eagles' recent Super Bowl runs are noticeably absent from their 2026 offense. One is very apparent: wide receiver A.J. Brown. From 2022 to 2025, no NFL receiver had a greater share of his team's receiving yards than Brown (32.6%), and only two (Tyreek Hill and Puka Nacua) had more yards per route run. Brown was particularly valuable to quarterback Jalen Hurts as a safety valve against man coverage. Simply put, to remove him is to remove a keystone of the Eagles' offense,” Ben Solak of ESPN wrote.

There are a few different ways to look at that stat, and I think there's some missing context. The Eagles don't necessarily throw the football as much as some other teams, and Brown would obviously get the ball when they decided to. 

However, this also shows that when times got tough, Philadelphia looked to him to make a play.

The fortunate part for the Eagles at the moment is that they have DeVonta Smith to come in and be that guy. I'd still say that Brown is a better player than Smith, but we shouldn't take away from what Smith has done throughout his career. He's among the elite in this league and will have a great opportunity to show that as a true WR1 next season.