Philadelphia Eagles star wide receiver A.J. Brown has deleted his X (formerly Twitter) account, but his social media activity was a prominent storyline during the 2025 NFL season.
In September, Brown, 28, tweeted the Bible scripture Mark 6:11, writing, “If you’re not welcomed, not listened to, quietly withdraw. Don’t make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and be on your way.”
In October, Brown captioned an Instagram photo, “Using me but not using me.”
It didn’t take an NFL savant to put two and two together and realize Brown was frustrated with his slow start.
Brown started the season with one catch for eight yards in the Eagles’ Week 1 win against Dallas. He caught five of eight targets for just 27 yards in a Week 2 win in Kansas City, and while he went off for six catches and 109 yards in a Week 3 win against Los Angeles, Brown was quiet by his standards through September and October.
According to The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane, Brown may have been posting for a different reason entirely.
“A lot of the people in that building feel like [quarterback Jalen Hurts] is not listening,” McLane said on the latest episode of his “unCovering the Birds” podcast, adding, “They feel that the only way to get through to Jalen — and, from what I understand, this is why A.J. Brown tweeted what he tweeted in October — the only way to get to him is through the media or social media or through those of us who report on the team. That’s what’s happening now.”
At the time, Brown rejected that his post was a shot.
“The tweet wasn’t directed at anyone because I am listened to,” Brown said, per The Athletic’s Brooks Kubena. “Like I said, I have an open communication with my coaches.”
Brown named Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni and since-fired Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo as people “I talk all the time.” It’s hard to ignore that he did not name Hurts.
Also in October, The Athletic’s Dianna Russini reported that Brown’s relationship with Hurts, which dates back to high school, had eroded.
“I’m told they’re not that close these days,” Russini wrote. “Like any friendship, life happens. Family responsibilities, the grind of being pros, shifting priorities. They’re friendly, but as one Eagles player described it: ‘It’s functional, professional.'”
According to Jeremy Fowler and Tim McManus’ ESPN bombshell report published last week, the interpersonal dynamics between Hurts and his coaches and some teammates are far from functional.
Hurts and his “rigid preferences” are described as the central source of the Eagles’ locker room friction and on-field failures last year.
The Eagles’ offense struggled all season — posting the league’s highest rate of 3-and-outs — and lost to San Francisco in the NFC Wild Card in January. Brown recorded his fourth-straight season with at least 1,000 receiving yards, and Hurts’ counting stats were fine if not good, but the Eagles never looked right.
“If he’s not gonna listen, this is the way to get him to listen,” McLane said on his podcast. “He will listen if there’s an ESPN 5,000-word story.”
McLane continued, “He will listen if the Inquirer has this, that, or the other thing about him or reports about his fascination with Michael Jordan and how he views himself in that realm and how guys are now teasing him and calling him ‘Little Jordan’ in the locker room because he thinks that he’s primarily responsible for the Super Bowl and not all these other players who were just as responsible. Saquon Barkley, or whoever you want to name.”
The Eagles signed Hurts to a five-year, $255 million contract in April 2023. The 2020 second-round pick won Super Bowl MVP as the Eagles denied the Kansas City Chiefs a three-peat in Super Bowl LIX in February 2025. The upcoming 2026 season is the last year of guaranteed money on Hurts’ contract, as he’ll be owed $51.5 million.
McLane published a separate Inquirer report on April 2 that shed further light on Hurts’ standing with the Eagles.
“He knows this is the last year of his guaranteed money,” an anonymous team source is quoted as telling McLane. “He knows the cat’s out on some of his baggage. You got to be able to produce. You can’t be near the bottom of the league in passing two years in a row with the amount of talent that we have. It’s not acceptable. And it’s everybody saying it — from [owner] Jeffrey [Lurie] on down. Everybody is on the same page.”
Lurie declined to speak on a possible Hurts extension at the NFL’s annual league meeting, but said, “There’s no bigger fan of Jalen than me.”
As for Brown, the league-wide expectation remains that he will be traded after June 1 for salary cap reasons. Two weeks ago, ESPN’s Adam Schefter laid out what would have to happen for Philly to move Brown.
The leader in the Brown sweepstakes clubhouse is the New England Patriots. Brown grew up a Patriots fan and was coached by Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel for three years in Tennessee before getting traded to Philly in 2022.