Eagles’ A.J. Brown doesn’t understand 21st-century media and he’s not alone

A.J. Brown had some things to get off his chest Friday afternoon and the Eagles’ No. 1 receiver decided to use a medium he clearly does not understand or respect in order to do it.

It made for some mildly entertaining sports-talk radio and no doubt buoyed 94 WIP’s afternoon Nielsen Audio ratings.

Here’s what we knew about Brown before he went on the air with Ike Reese and Jack Fritz to clarify a number of issues that have bothered him since the Eagles’ epic late-season collapse ended with a lopsided playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers:

* He’s an ultra-competitive athlete and one of the best wide receivers in the NFL.

* He often uses his social media account — @1kalwaysopen_ — to express his opinions.

* He believes his sideline rants are often misunderstood.

* He doesn’t understand the city’s negativity.

* He chose not to speak after games on a number of occasions.

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Here’s what we learned during the roughly 20-minute radio interview:

* He doesn’t want to be traded.

* He doesn’t have any beef with Jalen Hurts.

* It was him and not some hacker that recently expressed displeasure with WIP.

* He doesn’t consider himself a diva.

* He does consider himself a leader.

* He can’t really explain why the Eagles collapsed.

Let’s start by acknowledging the fact that Brown really has no understanding of what the media is or what it does or the differences in each medium. In his defense, the lines have never been more blurred. Everything I learned in journalism school 40 years ago has little relation to the crazy media world we live in today.

Brown’s strange offseason started with an appearance on the Up&Adams show on FanDuel TV with fellow wide receiver DeVonta Smith. The two were appearing as part of a paper towel promotion when host Kay Adams asked Brown this crazy question: “Why does Twitter have this wild idea that you’re getting traded?”

What? Twitter? Isn’t it X now? And isn’t it still a social media site? When did social media sites start getting ideas of their own? Is this the first step to the eventual AI takeover that is going to destroy civilization?

Smith broke out in laughter. Brown seemed to take the question seriously.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe they know something I don’t know.”

Adams, perhaps out of ignorance, doubled down and asked if it was a media thing. She couldn’t understand why Brown wasn’t more aware of this fake news that she claimed was spreading everywhere. Brown provided a sincere answer.

“I’ve kind of been through this before,” he said. “I’m a vet, so I’ll remain quiet. If something happens, I’ll be waiting by the phone. If not, I’ll be right here.”

There was never any indication he was going anywhere. None. Zero.

It is also understandable if Brown is miffed about why he has to answer questions about his relationship with Hurts. Did he have some heated conversations with his quarterback on the sideline during the season? Yes. Has he ever said anything derogatory about Hurts? Nope.

“Listen, Jalen is himself,” Brown said Friday when asked if the quarterback needed to be a more assertive leader. “I don’t agree or disagree. He’s going to be himself and I’m not the person to try to change him to be something that he’s not. But when things were going really good, you didn’t hear those reports.

“A lot of stuff happened. The season pulled everybody every which way. It was ups, it was downs. It was more downs than ups, but it started off up. Now everybody is scratching, everybody is pulling and everybody is trying to see what is going on. But when we were winning and we were 10-1, you saw the same reactions on the sidelines. But when when we started losing you still saw the same reactions, so how can you get upset at the same person who is doing the same thing. A couple months ago he was the greatest leader for this organization.”

That’s a similar answer that other Eagles players have given about Hurts’ demeanor. That doesn’t mean some players are less than thrilled with the way the quarterback leads, but I still haven’t seen one player put his name to a quote in that regard.

Brown’s anger with the same radio station he called Friday seemed at least a little misguided.

There are some journalists that work there, but the station is mostly driven by hot takes that are sometimes misguided and based on misinformation.

Reese, a former player who fully understood the media landscape during his playing days and has been an on-air talent at WIP since 2008, tried to explain how sports-talk radio works in this city to Brown. Based on Brown’s reaction, Reese was unsuccessful.

“I think a lot of stuff (is) personal to me,” Brown said. “The whole diva thing. The majority of stuff that comes out of you guys is negative all the time. I understand you’re trying to get clicks and views, but I don’t think that’s the way to go. You guys are our biggest haters.”

Reese pointed out that the fans and media just wanted to know why the Eagles collapsed.

“I felt like we gave you the answers,” Brown said. “But people didn’t want to accept the answers. It was a domino effect. We were trying to stop the bleeding and everything was going too fast at that point. The locker room is fine. Like I said after the season … players weren’t executing. That’s what it came down to. I think the media ran with the coaches. The coaches didn’t prepare us and this and that.”

Actually it was the head coach and general manager that directed blame at the coaches by first demoting the defensive coordinator during the season and then getting rid of a dozen coaches after the season.

The best part of the 20-minute segment came when Fritz asked Brown about new offensive coordinator Kellen Moore.

“I’m very excited to work with him,” Brown said. “I talked to him a couple of times. But we’re not talking about that. You guys wanted to talk about what happened, so let’s talk about what happened. I’m going to clear this up and I’m going to move on. Let’s do it.”

The main point Brown wanted to make is that he is misunderstood.

“I just truly think I’m misunderstood as a player and as a person and it gets frustrating because anything I say and anything I do I’m classified as a diva and I want the ball and this and that and blah, blah, blah,” he said. “Honestly it’s the other way around.”

Brown said his sideline arguments are born out of his passion and not selfishness.

“You see me getting upset on the sideleines and you automatcially think it’s about targets,” he said. “No, no. What if I’m holding my players accountable? What if I’m the guy who pushes everybody in the locker room and makes people uncomfortable to try to better themselves for the betterment of the team? What if I’m that guy? You don’t see it as much from Jalen because that’s not his personality.

“Honestly, I’m the person you need on the team because I’m willlng to hold people accountable, make people around me better, but nobody sees that. All you see is the little flare ups. You see the flare ups because nobody in that building works harder than me. Nobody in that building prepares harder than me. I can stand on that and say that. That’s why you see the passion and why you see me act the way that I act. So, yeah, I’m misunderstood.”

Perhaps, but Brown also seems to misunderstand some things. Nobody is trying to run him out of town and almost everybody appreciates that he is a special talent. It wasn’t that long ago that Travis Fulgham and Greg Ward were the team’s top two receivers, so A.J. Brown may be a lot more appreciated than he realizes.

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Bob Brookover can be reached at [email protected]

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