Trades are never easy for professional athletes. Many take it personally. Maybe they feel as if their old team rejected them, dumped them, really.
Players and families are uprooted. Their normalcy and routine are shattered and they’re off to a new team and new home.
No matter the circumstances, a trade has to sting, even a little.
The Eagles traded for wide receiver A.J. Brown on the first night of the draft from Tennessee, his home for three professional seasons.
Brown was dealt to the Eagles for a first- and third-round pick. The trade was unexpected … and shocking — the Titans giving up a talented 25-year-old at a premier position.
In August, Brown told the NFL Network:
- “You know, it’s a business, and I’m not upset about the trade or anything because it is a business or whatever.
- “But to be honest, I just didn’t appreciate how it all went down, and they just kind of blamed me for it. I’m man enough to say that, however people may take it.
- But I have no bad blood with Tennessee. I’m moving forward. I’m happy to be here. But [there are] a lot of things people don’t know about, and they’re just pointing fingers at me. But that’s OK.”
Brown and the Titans couldn’t agree on a contract extension before the trade. Once he was traded, the Eagles announced Brown’s four-year, $100 million contract.
AT PEACE
Brown said he has come to peace over the trade.
- “I’m with the Eagles, we’re 10-1,” said Brown, whose Eagles play host to his former team on Sunday. “We’re doing a really good job here. Of course it means a lot but I got to be professional about it and keep my emotions down and just play.
- “Of course, early on I had mixed emotions, but I changed my family life forever. That was the goal. So, I’m thankful, fortunately. I’m here in Philly now.
- “Regardless of how the trade and everything goes down, me personally, I feel like I won.”
Brown has gone through a rough stretch the last few weeks. He had a stomach ailment that he said kept him in bed all of Thanksgiving. He said he burst a blood vessel in his right eye from vomiting.
“He’s tough as hell,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni. “He’s just got so much toughness and he just fits great into this team with a bunch of guys, we have got tough guys, and he was able to fight through a tough week and get himself ready to play.”
CONTROL WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL
Brown injured his ankle in the Washington loss. He lost a fumble in each of the last two games — his first fumbles of the season.
“The ankle, that’s something I can’t control,” Brown said. “Me protecting the football, that’s something I can control.
“That’s my focus going forward. I’m not going to change who I am with the ball in my hand but I got to do a better job protecting the football.”
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts said Brown has the same focus every week, regardless of the opponent.
“I think every week means a lot to him,” Hurts said. “It means everything to him to go out there and play the game he loves. Go be the person he sets out to be.”
Sirianni also is in “it’s just another game” camp.
- “I think the constant reminder is, hey, this game is big to us because it’s our next one,” Sirianni said.
- “This game is big to us because we don’t want to let each other down.
- “He doesn’t have to do any more than just go out there and be himself. He doesn’t have to press.
- “He just has to go out there and do his job to the best of his ability with the attention to detail.”
BIG STATS
Brown has 53 catches for 831 yards and seven touchdowns. If he reaches 1,000 receiving yards, he would be the first Eagles wide receiver to do so since Jeremy Maclin in 2014. Tight end Zach Ertz had 1,163 yards in 2018.
- “If I don’t get 1,000, it’s not a good year,” Brown said. “That’s not the goal for me.”
Brown has been the productive, big-play receiver the Eagles needed and one of the top receivers in the league, the contract extension worth every dollar.
- “First of all, as the person goes, we just got a top-notch person,” Sirianni said. “I can’t say enough about A.J. the person.
- “Obviously, his play speaks for itself. He’s a great teammate, he is a great person. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know A.J.
- “Then as far as the play, yeah, as advertised, right? Didn’t have to watch a lot of film. Obviously knew a lot about him and he was as advertised.
- “Then you get him out here and there are obviously things that you think to yourself, man, well, he can do that, too, and that’s going to be a nice addition to this offense.
- “So, yeah, everything we imagined, as advertised, and then some.”
