Talks about Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown being traded in the next few days are heating up, prompting many conversations about his four-year tenure in Philly.
Over the last two years, Brown has faced criticism from fans and the media for how He has conducted himself in public, airing his frustrations with the team to everyone, to the point that Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie had to ask him privately not to do that for the rest of last season. All that criticism of Brown had former NFL wide receiver Steve Smith Sr. growing frustrated with the narrative surrounding Brown, and he went to his defense.
"He's well-beloved in that locker room, in that organization," Smith said via ESPN's First Take. "He's respected. Yeah, some people may not like the way he's aired their dirty laundry, but don't make it seem like he's a headache and he's a problem child, because he's not. Just because he's expecting and expressing that he wants to be better, right? No one goes to work and say, 'Hey, I wanna be fired and be really average today and receive all my payments.' So cool. That's not it. So, I don't understand why people are so upset at athletes wanting to be good when half of the time the fans are complaining about. You didn't make that catch because of my fantasy team, or you didn't do this because that impacted my betting line, all of that stuff. And all of a sudden, now there's a problem. So I'm not buying it, bro."
Steve Smith Sr. defends A.J. Brown against his critics
First off, Smith and the rest of the media have got to stop saying that Eagles fans have been critical of Brown. Eagles fans love Brown and respect the work he has done over the last four years with the franchise. In fact, they have been grateful for the two Super Bowl appearances and winning one.
Yes, there was some frustration with Brown being so public about everything, but pretty much everything he said was accurate, so there were fewer problems than some think. The bigger problem for fans is actually how the media covers Brown and sensationalizes every story that comes out about him. It's already negative news, and it's always in the Eagles fans' faces, which they are tired of themselves.
Quite frankly, Brown has a chance to be an Eagles Hall of Famer because he's considered the best receiver in franchise history. It hasn't been the smoothest with him, but no one wants to trade him away, as it is more about just having this storyline end already, so the drama can be gone, and Eagles fans can move on.
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The quicker the Eagles can trade him, the quicker the fan base can move on, because all these negative narratives about Brown potentially being traded are tiresome.
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