Brown grown up & at peace as he faces former team

There was a time in A.J. Brown’s career when he really thought he was going to be a Titan for life.

Why wouldn’t he?

The Titans drafted Brown in the second round of the 2019 draft and Brown more than lived up to expectations. He went over 1,000 yards in each of his first two seasons, was named a Pro Bowler in 2020 and proved himself to be one of the top receivers in the league.

But Brown learned that things don’t always work out the way you want them to. Because instead of getting a big contract extension and continuing his career in Tennessee, Brown was traded to the Eagles on draft night.

“I think when you go through things in this league, you learn that it’s a business,” Brown said on Wednesday. “Of course, early on, I wanted to try to finish my career a Titan. I think I stated that. I learned that it’s a business and you gotta do what’s best (for you) because they’re going to do what’s best for them. You grow up and that’s what I did.”

While Brown once expressed some frustration about the way the trade went down, on Wednesday as his new team gets set to host his old team, Brown said he’s found peace.

Sure, there will be some added emotions on Sunday. But there’s no ill-will.

“Of course I’ve come to peace about it,” Brown said. “I’m with the Eagles, we’re 10-1, we’re doing a really good job here. Of course, early on I had mixed emotions but I changed my family’s life forever. That was the goal. I’m thankful for Tennessee but I’m here in Philly now.”

Not only have things worked out on the field, but Brown got a four-year, $100 million contract from the Eagles after the trade. That’s the type of generational wealth Brown was seeking. And when it became clear to him it wasn’t going to come from the Titans, it eventually came from the Eagles after the trade.

That’s why after Sunday’s game against the Packers, Brown said he felt like he had already won.

“I feel like regardless of how the trade and everything goes down, I feel like me personally, I won,” Brown said. “I won because, like I said, I changed my family’s life forever. That’s the goal, especially growing up where I’m from and of course I want to do great and accomplish a lot of great things but that’s the reason why we play the game.”

Brown on Wednesday tried to call this matchup against the Titans the “another game on the schedule,” but Brown knows he’s not fooling anyone. This game will mean more to him; it’s human nature. He spent three years with the Titans, he played under Mike Vrabel, most of those guys were once teammates.

“I can imagine it’s going to be a big game for him,” Dallas Goedert said. “He’s going to be playing with some emotion. I’m excited for him to have a big day.”

But this week is about trying to not let any of that extra emotion affect Brown’s preparation. To the best of his ability, he has to try to treat this coming game like he would any other.

Head coach Nick Sirianni said his message to Brown wouldn’t be any different than his message to Zach Pascal a couple weeks ago when the Eagles played his former team, the Colts.

“You got to stay true to your process and that's the key,” Sirianni said. “Because every game, the next game is always biggest game. We don't want to let each other down, and so you got to prep for every game the same. But naturally human nature will take over and that's my job as a coach to make sure that he knows he doesn't have to do anything more than just be A.J. Brown.

“That's why he's here. That's why we traded for him, that's why we paid him, because he's a phenomenal player. Just go be yourself. You don't have to do anything special because you're special enough to go out there and play.”

Brown has helped transform the Eagles offense in 2022. Through 11 games, Brown already has 53 catches for 831 yards and 7 touchdowns. Brown is on a pace to finish the year with 82/1,284/11. And his addition has helped quarterback Jalen Hurts enter the MVP race.

And Brown is also just 169 yards away from 1,000 receiving yards, which hasn’t been reached by an Eagles receiver since Jeremy Maclin in the 2014 season.

Although, that’s not the goal.

“If I don’t get a thousand, that’s not a good year,” Brown said. “That’s not the goal for me. My goal is far beyond a thousand. I still got work to do.”

It’s been a weird few weeks for Brown, who definitely wants to find some consistency down the stretch, starting with his former team.

There were a couple things he couldn’t control. There was an ankle injury that lingered for a couple games. And last week, he dealt with a nasty stomach bug that put him through Hell. A week later, he’s still re-gaining his strength.

But there were a couple big mistakes that Brown can control and needs to fix. He’s fumbled the ball away in back-to-back games and knows that’s not acceptable.

“I’m not going to change who I am with the ball in my hands,” Brown said. “But I got to do a better job of protecting the football.”

Coming back from the bye week in Week 8, Brown had the best game of his career with 6 catches for 156 yards and 3 touchdowns. In the four games since, he has 14/172/2 and has been dealing with all that aforementioned weirdness.

There’s no better time to get back on track than this weekend against his former team.

The team that drafted him.

The team that let him get away.

“Of course it means a lot,” Brown admitted. “But I gotta be professional about it and keep my emotions down. Like I said after the game, my job is just to be as consistent as possible. Regardless of who’s playing, that’s my focus.”

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