Despite the heartbreak of the Philadelphia Eagles losing in the NFC Wild Card to the San Francisco 49ers, the story of the game surrounded wide receiver A.J. Brown.
It all started in the second quarter when Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni got in Brown's face after a bad drop on third down, with Sirianni saying it was just him getting Brown off the field. After two bad drops in the loss, Brown declined to speak with the media and instead just gave hugs and said his goodbyes with teammates.
Everyone has been giving their opinions on what the Eagles should do with Brown during the offseason, whether trading him and moving on is the right thing, or trying to make it work. Former Eagles center Jason Kelce shared his stance on what Brown and the Eagles should do.
"I think he needs to get away from things," Kelce said via SportsRadio 94 WIP. "I think that whole team needs to kind of step away for a second and re-evaluate...and get ready to attack it when they all get back together."
A break during the offseason might help Eagles and A.J. Brown
The 2025 season might be the toughest season for Brown since being an Eagle in 2022, as he had just 1,003 yards and averaged 12.9 yards per reception, both the lowest in Philadelphia. It was also the first season in which he was not selected as an All-Pro or to the Pro Bowl with the Eagles.
Every part of the season seemed to be filled with some kind of drama, with Brown in the middle of all of it. From the cryptic tweets to going on streams trashing the Eagles, Brown just never seemed to have a great time throughout the season, as something was always frustrating him.
All Eagles fans can acknowledge that Brown was right about the team's problems and the offense. The Eagles pretty much agreed inadvertently by moving on from Kevin Patullo as offensive coordinator after one season.
Trading away Brown would be a financial nightmare and headache for the Eagles. The hope is that the Eagles and Brown can use the time away to work through any personal issues and come back with solutions on how to make this work together.
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It's going to be a long offseason of more speculation that made it unbearable to deal with during the season before the trade deadline.