Why is Eagles WR A.J. Brown frustrated? Let him explain, at last

A.J. Brown apologized to his teammates in a Wednesday morning meeting. In the absence of Brown’s voice, emotions and opinions were assigned to him. A narrative was created because he was unwilling to contribute to one. His teammates were left answering questions on his behalf. Brown said that wasn’t fair to them — he could speak for himself.

So he did.

For the first time in two weeks, Brown reclaimed his narrative — and shared those emotions and opinions — by explaining that his frustration was not directed at the coaching staff, teammates, or play-calling, and that his refusal to speak publicly was because he had nothing positive to say and he did not want to compound negativity. 

“I’m not trying to make it worse than what it is,” Brown said. “And then on top of that, everything that I do, if I say something, I do anything, I’m classified as a monster. Honestly, it’s the opposite.  You saw my frustration on the field. It wasn’t about the play call. It wasn’t about none of that. It was about (DeVonta Smith) getting banged up. We’re going to need Smitty moving forward.”

The “monster” might be hyperbole, and Brown dismissed the “diva” label as being associated with an outspoken wide receiver. He suggested he never asks for the ball — Smith is actually more vocal than Brown on the sideline, per Brown — and that he’s usually speaking on the sideline to hold teammates accountable. 

He did not deny that he’s frustrated. The source of frustration is losing. 

“All you see ‘A.J. Brown frustrated with the Eagles’, ‘A.J. this, A.J. that’,” Brown said. “Everybody in this locker room was frustrated. So why are you singling me out because I’m frustrated? Just because I’m shaking my head, I’m showing emotion. You can look at everybody in the stadium has bad body language. They’re frustrated, you know? And so, yeah, I wanted to clear that up, because it’s not about me. We’re all frustrated.”

That’s true, although Brown tends to be more emotional. Body language can be interpreted in different ways — especially in the absence of spoken language. So Brown explained precisely why he’s frustrated, and it was a predictable response that’s relatable throughout the locker room during a late-season nosedive.

“I want to win,” Brown said. “I’m trying to do everything in my power to win. I wake up before the sun comes up. I go home hours after the sun goes down. This is our life. We dedicate our whole entire life to this shit. It’s serious to us. It comes with frustration because if one man goes the wrong way a half inch, the play is over. It doesn’t work.”

That “half-inch” reference was not random. Brown said a half of an inch was the problem on the Eagles’ much-discussed second-down run on the penultimate drive. The play lost four yards. Brown said had a block been made a half of an inch to the left, Jalen Hurts would have sprung loose for a touchdown. It might be hyperbole, but it’s an example of what can lead to frustration. Because one play later, Smith injured his ankle on a screen pass to Kenny Gainwell. That’s when cameras caught Brown upset. 

Of course, it’s not the first time Brown has appeared upset on the sideline. He’s had animated conversations with Hurts, one of his closest friends. He has said this is part of their sideline communication. And he’s been asked throughout his Eagles tenure about his reaction to targets. Considering he’s one of the best players in the NFL, it’s reasonable to think that targeting Brown is part of the solution and that a lack of targets — like one target in the second half on Sunday — is a problem.

“If you throw me the ball 105 times, I’m going to want it 106 times,” Brown said. “That’s me as a wide receiver because I feel like I could change the game at any moment. But if I don’t get the ball, he may have felt that was best. So nothing I can do about it.”

And that’s why Brown was adamant that he was not frustrated about targets. 

“People may not believe it, but I don’t care,” Brown said. “They’re going to create whatever narrative — I’m splitting the locker room, that’s bullshit.”

Brown also defended coach Nick Sirianni and pushed back on the notion that he has a problem with Sirianni and/or offensive coordinator Brian Johnson. Brown appreciated the way Sirianni covers for players and takes blame even when it’s not his fault. Brown gave the example of the final pass against Seattle, when Hurts’ attempt to Brown was intercepted. Sirianni suggested that the call was made to potentially draw a pass interference, a perplexing claim that seemed at the time to be covering for someone. 

Turns out, Brown and the offense improvised on the play. Sirianni took the blame.

“He really made himself look like a fool for us!” Brown said.

So when Brown discussed his coach, this quality stood out to him.

“I can tell you that there may be things that Nick probably wants to fix about himself, but one thing I can respect: Loyalty is not one of them,” Brown said. “I say that because he takes up for it when it has nothing to do with him. And he gets the blame — that comes with his job. …But the coaches played zero snaps this year. It’s not the coaches. It is us.”

Brown reiterated this point about the coaches. They’re not on film. The players are responsible more than the coaches for the Eagles’ current plight, according to the team captain, and the players will get them out of it. He’s also made efforts to bring play together off the field, including an escape room excursion he organized last weekend.

“That’s so cool that he’s reaching out to his teammates and wanting to connect with his teammates and do things off the field,” Sirianni said. That’s special and A.J. is special. …A.J. is a special person, A.J. is a special teammate, and obviously we all see those are things that you don’t see with A.J. You guys don’t get to see that we do get to see, of how special of a teammate he is, how special of a person he is. We all get to see, all of us in this city and in the world get to see how special of a football player he is, but when I go back to him, he’s special in all three of those categories, teammate, leader, person, and as a player.”

The reality is that for the Eagles to return to their best form, it requires Brown at his best form. He’s on the verge of breaking his own franchise record for receiving yards. But he hasn’t reached the end zone during this stretch of four losses in five games, and he’s reached 100 yards only once in the past eight games after six consecutive weeks with at least 125 yards. 

That was the part of the intrigue about his public silence that was missing. The drama of the media blackout became the story, but that was the symptom. That wasn’t the problem. 

When a team is losing, their best players should be frustrated. And it’s incumbent upon the team to figure out how to maximize that player. Brown said that play-calling and targets are not why he’s frustrated, but they might be why the Eagles are losing. And losing is why Brown is frustrated. So in a roundabout way, they could all be connected. 

There’s only one way to change that. He already made steps to change the narrative about himself. He now must help change the narrative about the team.