Skip to content
After Sunday’s win over the Buccaneers, Eagles receiver A.J. Brown posted a tweet suggesting that he’s not happy in Philadelphia: “If you’re not welcomed, not listened to, quietly withdraw. Don’t make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and be on your way.” The message reportedly was directed at one or more members of the organization.
Meeting with reporters on Wednesday, Brown took responsibility for the tweet. He also disputed that he was sending a message, while confirming his frustrations over a lack of involvement in the offense. All in fewer than five minutes.
The video of the exchange, as posted by Eliot Shorr-Parks of 94WIP.com, can be seen and heard here.
“First off, I want to start off by saying, obviously, Sunday after the game, I let my frustrations boil over,” Brown said. “I didn’t speak to the media. I had a chance to correct my frustrations, and I continued to let it boil over. That’s on me. You know, I take full accountability on that.”
But even though Brown took total responsibility for the tweet, he disputed the obvious message it sent.
“My message on Twitter wasn’t directed at anyone in the building, not my coaches, not my quarterback, my G.M., nobody,” Brown said.
He said he has “open communications” with everyone, and he called his frustrations “normal” due to the “standards we hold ourselves to.” He specifically contradicted the portion of the tweet in which he suggested that he’s not being listened to.
Through it all, Brown made it clear that he still hopes to have more passes thrown his way.
“Like, again, I take accountability for that, you know?” Brown said of his tweet. “But I think it’s fair to, you know, to want the ball to get us going, you know? Like last week against the Rams, you know, I caught the sluggo [route], got the offense going, next play, open up for Dallas Goedert. The safety came over to my side and opened it up. So, you know, I don’t think it’s a bad thing for wanting the ball. It’s not just for targets or anything, or put numbers up, but no, I see that that we’re struggling and I’m a guy that wants to ball in those times, when we can’t find a way, give it to me. Like, when the game’s on the line, give the ball to me. I want that. I want that pressure, I put it on myself, you know, and I work hard for it. . . . [M]y teammates know that when the game’s on the line, look at me, you know? And I want, shoot, everybody in the stadium to know that, you know? That’s not a secret, you know? I’m not shying away from that. And so that’s when you see that frustration and that hunger comes out, and I see you struggling, and I believe it, you give the ball to me, I’m gonna open up things, and I’m gonna get this thing going. You can put it on my back.”
To summarize, Brown was frustrated by the lack of involvement in the offense. And so he posted a tweet suggesting that he’s neither welcomed nor listened to. And he now claims that the message posted in his frustration doesn’t mean what it obviously seems to mean.
Brown was asked whether he wants to remain with the team.
“Absolutely,” Brown said. “This is home. This is my home, you know? Unfortunately, I did it to myself. I wouldn’t even say unfortunately. I did it to myself. But this is my home, man. I love it here. But you just see frustration because obviously we want to be great and most definitely I want to be great as well.”
All in all, it seems like an effort to acknowledge his frustrations while downplaying the clear implications of his expression of it. And that’s a very difficult needle to thread.
For now, it makes sense to carefully monitor the number of opportunities Brown gets to help an offense that, despite the team’s 4-0 record, has been struggling. It also seems fairly obvious that someone persuaded Brown to distance himself from the message he sent, even if he also has confirmed the reasons for sending it.
