The A.J. Brown and Jalen Hurts Situationship
On Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, and the personalities at the center of the Philadelphia Eagles offense
I remember watching an NFL Films highlight of the early 2000s Indianapolis Colts led by Peyton Manning. Manning was mic’ed up, so we could hear everything he said on the field and on the sideline, giving us a rare peek behind the curtain for one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. The Colts were playing the Rams on Monday Night Football, and after a drive stalled out in the redzone, Manning’s longtime center Jeff Saturday took issue with Peyton on the sideline, criticizing the lack of running plays by shouting, “We need to run the ball!” Manning exploded. He stormed over to Saturday, addressing his concerns by saying, “Just play f***ing center…and when we call pass plays, f***ing block!”
Professional sports create an intense environment, even if you’re one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. It’s a pressure that makes diamonds and slowly watches them crack. The only way through the storm is a relentless pursuit of excellence that can fracture relationships just as much as it can bring the thrill of victory.
This week, the story around the Philadelphia Eagles has reached a boiling point. They are a team steeped in drama but thankfully not consumed by it. Despite being the #1 seed in the NFC and winning 26 of their last 31 games, the conversation surrounding the team centers on the failings of the offense. Primarily, the relationship between A.J. Brown and Jalen Hurts.
How We Got Here with Jalen and A.J.
Hurts and Brown have been in each other’s lives for a long time, dating back to when Hurts tried to recruit Brown to play at Alabama. They bonded over their shared work ethic and passion for the game. As ESPN’s Tim McManus reported back in 2022, “Their personalities stand in contrast. Hurts is reserved. Brown, more gregarious, gets frustrated that Hurts is perpetually all business -- always grinding away at that massive chip on his shoulder.” The two have a deep friendship and brotherhood.
But three years and one Super Bowl win later, rumors have swirled this week that there’s internal frustration with Hurts’ conservative style of play, and A.J. is at the center of it. Brown has been vocal about his frustrations with the offense, but has been careful not to assign blame to anyone specifically, leaving just enough space in his comments for the media to craft and perpetuate a narrative of dysfunction in the locker room. Fans have begun to wonder if Hurts and Brown’s relationship has changed. Last year, Brandon Graham alluded as much in a radio appearance on WIP (although he later apologized for shedding light) when he said,
“I don’t know the whole story, but I know that [Hurts] is trying and [Brown] could be a little better with how he responds to things. They were friends before this, but things have changed, and I understand that because life happens. But it’s the business side, that we have to make sure the personal doesn’t get in the way of the business.”
Winning and losing both come at a cost. Football is a game where emotions run high. The best football players take the field with the passion and intensity required to navigate the rigors of an NFL season, never mind being successful. The stakes of winning and losing are monumental. As anyone who collaborates with others in work or life knows, the dynamics of a team are complicated. When the stakes are high, those dynamics can get in the way of the closest friendships. I’ve seen friends yell at each other over games of Settlers of Catan. I can’t imagine if a Super Bowl were on the line.
Jason Kelce shed some light on this dynamic in a radio appearance that circulated this week. He spoke about how he and Lane Johnson (currently one of Kelce’s best friends) didn’t talk for an entire offseason during the Chip Kelly era, due to a disagreement over football. Kelce added about football, “This thing brings out emotions and sides of people because you all want to win so bad.” In response to rumors about Hurts’ playing style, Kelce added this week, “I bet everybody liked winning the Super Bowl. I bet everybody likes winning football games.”
What Drives Jalen and A.J.
The most successful professional athletes operate along what I like to call The Michael Jordan Intensity Operating System. It’s a behavioral trait manifested through a maniacal work ethic, an obsessively singular focus, and an attention to detail that exploits even the smallest advantage that can contribute to winning. It’s an intensity, ambition, and competitive spirit that surpasses an athlete’s physical gifts.
Those who commit to the M.J.I.O.S. usually find great personal and team success. It also breeds relentlessly high expectations for everyone in their orbit. High standards that their coaching staff and teammates are required to meet. When those standards aren’t met, the expectations can cause friction in an environment already prone to conflict (see: Peyton Manning yelling at Jeff Saturday). Good athletes hold their teammates accountable when they’re losing, great athletes push their teammates to be better even when they’re winning.
Aside from Manning’s story, you hear tales of Tom Brady cursing out his teammates in practice or yelling at his offensive coordinator on the sidelines. Aaron Rodgers glaring at wide receivers for running a route incorrectly. Kobe Bryant refusing to talk to teammates who don’t work as hard as he does. We even gathered around Netflix to watch an entire 10-part documentary on the greatest basketball player of all time being kind of an asshole in the pursuit of championships. Athletes with great demands on themselves place great demands on others.
Both A.J. Brown and Jalen Hurts operate by the Michael Jordan Intensity Operating System. Maybe not to the degree of Kobe Bryant or even Michael Jordan, but they exist on the spectrum (Jalen closer to Jordan than A.J.). It’s a mentality that makes them both top ten at their position in the sport.
With Jalen Hurts comes his relentless desire to win at all costs. Compared to other great quarterbacks whose eye-popping stats drive their teams to victory, Jalen is a shapeshifter. He is a coaches son who does whatever is necessary to win. If that’s throwing for 300 yards, he’ll do it. If that’s throwing for 50, he’ll do that too. Hurts’ obsession with winning consumes him. “Find what you love and let it kill you,” as Charles Bukowski once wrote.
In 2023, Hurts led the Eagles with an MVP-worthy year, operating Shane Steichen’s offense at the highest level on the road to the Super Bowl. In his first Super Bowl against Kansas City, Jalen played the game of his life outside of a single turnover, outdueling the soon-to-be greatest quarterback of all-time. But despite a career game, Hurts still lost. Despite the stats and the adoration, he came up empty-handed.
Hurts talked about how that year changed him. Molded him into something else. He mentioned how he had a picture of him walking through red and gold confetti after that loss as the background image on his phone. Took his obsession to win even further. That one single turnover hung in his mind. So he, along with head coach Nick Sirianni, committed to an almost religious adherence to one metric: turnover ratio. Giving the ball away less than they take it away. After evolving the offense to a run-heavy approach following last year’s bye week, Hurts placed his full belief in the idea that limiting mistakes wins you games. He adopted a conservative approach. One that took the Eagles to the Super Bowl last year, before a big passing game from Hurts in Philadelphia’s second Super Bowl win.
That commitment to winning at all costs has led to a conservatism that’s uninspiring but hard to argue with. The Jalen Hurts-Nick Sirianni-Kevin Patullo offense is best defined as safe. It isn’t flashy unless necessary. It isn’t bold unless boldness is required. It’s both shape-shifting and frustrating. An offense built around a zealous commitment to avoiding mistakes and capitalizing on mistakes made against them. But despite the frustration, all they do is win. And winning is all that matters to Jalen.
Winning is also all that matters to A.J. Brown. For all intents and purposes, he’s been a tremendous teammate who’s loved inside and outside of the facility. The seminal text on understanding Brown is his post-Super Bowl Instagram post, where he directly shares his motivations and what he loves about the game. “I’ve never been a champion at the highest level before but I thought my hard work would be justified by winning it all,” Brown wrote, “It wasn’t. My thrill for this game comes when I dominate.”
Winning is central, but dominating is what brings him joy. He shares Hurts’ maniacal work ethic, pushing himself to be better and better at his craft through relentless attention to detail that separates the greats from the goods. As his college teammate Elijah Moore, stated in an interview about A.J. for The Athletic, people would be “be impressed with his daily living (reading habits, diet, parenting) before they would be impressed with anything about how that dude plays football,” and that A.J. used to always say in college “pick your hard.” Brown wants to feel valuable, he wants to contribute, but most of all he wants to be one of the greatest wide receivers of all time, not for the recognition but because contributing to winning in that sense brings him joy.
Issues On Offense
The rub with the Jalen Hurts-Nick Sirianni-Kevin Patullo offense is that it leaves A.J. Brown in the wind. Being conservative and predictable limits an ambitious wide receiver to just another piece that’s not used to its full capacity. Like buying a Lamborghini and using it for storage. And Brown isn’t wrong. He isn’t clamoring for more targets on an offense that’s playing well despite his personal struggles. He’s asking to help be part of the solution for an offense that is sluggish and failing to play to a level that matches their talent. He’s begging to be the engine for change he knows he can be.
So here you have the central conflict: Hurts believes in the constant pursuit of perfection, but, most of all, that doing what’s required to win is what matters most. That’s manifested in a conservative style of play. And Brown believes that just consistently winning without playing your best isn’t enough. That the offense should soar to the heights it’s capable of soaring to, which requires a slightly less conservative approach. And honestly, they’re both right.
The main issue here isn’t within Hurts or Brown specifically; it’s that these are two players trapped in an offensive system that fails to elevate its playmakers. In 2023, Jalen had a career year under then-offensive coordinator Shane Steichen, who has since risen to be the best playcaller in the NFL as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. Steichen knew how to give Hurts easy buttons and scheme open wide receivers to limit unsafe throws. The 2025 (and even 2024) Eagles don’t have that luxury. Since 2023, the passing offense has simplified to the point of predictability. Without a strong running game like they had in 2024’s Super Bowl run, they are dead in the water.
Every throw feels harder than it needs to be. It’s an offensive philosophy that believes not in using schematic advantages to create mismatches, but in the talent of its players to do so. Line ‘em up and force the defense to stop you, even if they know where the punch is coming from. It’s an offense that aims to limit mistakes and capitalize on the mistakes of others. Which requires an elite defense to do so and creates a very slim margin for error.
For Jalen Hurts, that means playing conservatively. He turns down throws to fight another down instead of taking risks and trusting his playmakers to make up the difference. For A.J. Brown, that means a severely limited menu of routes that minimizes his impact on the game.
The frustrating part for Brown and for Philadelphia fans is that the Eagles have the makings of an explosive passing offense and have done it before. Instead, they have made the decision not to in an effort to protect the ball at all costs. The Vikings game felt like one step forward, while the Green Bay game felt like two steps back. Hurts no doubt has a huge say in how this offense plays, but good coaching should accentuate what your players do best and while pushing them to grow in areas where they are uncomfortable. Hurts has never shied away from developing into a better player. Growth and evolution are his superpowers.
So where does that leave us? The Eagles are still the #1 seed in the NFC with an emerging defense that’s playing like the best in the league. They have the second-easiest strength os schedule left, according to Sports Illustrated. There is time and space for the offense, Hurts, and Brown to figure things out. Until they do, they’ll continue to walk the fine line between winning because of their defense and losing because of their offense. Though this offensive system fails to set these players up for success on a consistent basis, levers can be pulled to optimize.
As for Hurts and Brown, I don’t know the state of their friendship. I can’t make any conjecture about Hurts and Brown’s non-football life, and it isn’t my place to do so. But professionally, there’s too much noise for there not to be friction. I hope they find a way to make peace with each other, if that is what’s required. As Jason Kelce mentioned in that same interview, teammate relationships are like marriage. And the only way to get through this is to take accountability and work it out. Much like when you yell at your friend after an aggressive game of Settlers of Catan.