May 01, 2024
Kate Frese/For PhillyVoice
Eagles receiver A.J. Brown during warmups ahead of September 14, 2023's Week 2 game against the Vikings at Lincoln Financial Field.
When A.J. Brown signed on the dotted line Tuesday morning to make his three-year, $96 million contract extension official, he then took the phone for the Eagles' social media team and said on camera "When I hang my cleats up, it's going to be in that uniform right there."
Not for a while though. He's nowhere even close to that. But for the star wide receiver, that is one of the end goals.
"My career took off when I got here," Brown told the media at the NovaCare Complex later in the afternoon. "It went to another level, and it feels right. My family's here. My girl is starting school again here. I've got teammates and their kids, and I want them to grow up together."
Philadelphia is home now, but after reaching a deal to make him the highest-paid receiver in the NFL, Brown and the Eagles are just as much on a mission, too.
He's signed long-term, so is DeVonta Smith on the opposite end of the field, Jalen Hurts under center from the year prior, much of the offensive line, and Saquon Barkley out of the backfield for the next three years also.
This is the group, the Eagles committed to them, and the window is open now.
"I want to prove it," Brown said of his contract status. "It's a blessing, I can say. But we don't play on paper, and nobody cares what's in the bank account when you step between the lines."
"Nobody cares what's in the bank account when you step in between them lines"
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) April 30, 2024
- Eagles WR A.J. Brown after becoming the highest paid WR in the NFL pic.twitter.com/BTykFHPLCT
It is a pretty solid-looking offense between the lines though.
Smith is coming off back-to-back seasons of more than 1,000 yards receiving and Brown just shy of 1,500 with both in the prime of their careers. Hurts isn't far removed from an MVP-caliber campaign in 2022 and still generated a combined 4,463 yards and 38 touchdowns in 2023 even though last year was a relative struggle. And Barkley, meanwhile, was the focal point of a Giants offense that made a surprise push to the playoffs in 2022 and still ran for 962 yards even as that team crumbled around him in 2023, plus he has the benefit in Philadelphia now of a still impressive O-line that features Landon Dickerson, Jordan Mailata, and Lane Johnson up front.
Dallas Goedert is still there as a pass-catching threat over the middle, too, provided new offensive coordinator Kellen Moore can incorporate him into the game plan more compared to last season.
The sting of how 2023 just completely fell apart in the home stretch for a group that had Super Bowl-or-bust expectations is still there, but now that a few months have passed to settle down, and free agency and the draft offered up their annual refresh and sparks of hope, the Eagles did build back up into a stacked offense on paper.
Now the responsibility is on Brown and co. to put it all back into practice.
"The sky's the limit," Brown said. "I don't want to get into saying we can do this and we can do that, because ultimately you gotta go to work. That's what I can speak on: We're gonna work our butt off and show every single day."
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