Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts has mastered the art of the non-answer, and he put that skill on full display Wednesday when a reporter tried to get him to weigh in on his former teammate, A.J. Brown.
Brown, now with the New England Patriots after a blockbuster trade, was on the practice field for a joint session with the Eagles. Naturally, someone asked Hurts if he had any advice for Patriots quarterback Drake Maye on how to get the most out of his new weapon. Hurts, however, was having none of it.
“I think Drake has had a lot of success already, so I don’t know what my advice would do,” Hurts replied, per reporters at the scene. “I just think he needs to continue the progression that he’s on. He has accomplished so many great things in short time, and I expect more great things to come for him.”
It was a textbook deflection — polite, professional, and utterly devoid of any actual insight into Brown. Hurts offered no tips, no anecdotes, no glimpses into the relationship that once made Philadelphia's offense one of the most feared in the NFL.
The two were a dynamic duo for three seasons, with Brown racking up 185 catches, 2,995 yards, and 24 touchdowns in an Eagles uniform. But after a rocky 2025 campaign that saw the team's chemistry unravel, Philadelphia shipped Brown to New England for a 2028 first-round pick and a 2027 fifth-round selection.
Brown has since opened up about the split, telling Maria Taylor in June that nothing dramatic happened — the two just drifted apart. “Nothing happened, people just grow apart,” Brown said. “Nothing happened between me and him, or our families, wives, anything. Nothing like that ever happened. Life happens and you just look up sometimes and you just find yourself drifting away and that’s fine. And I think both parties accepted that.”
Hurts, for his part, has never publicly addressed the dynamic beyond vague platitudes. His focus, he says, is on the players currently in Philadelphia's locker room — a stance that's been echoed in recent training camp reports that suggest the team is eager to move on.
Whether Hurts and Brown ever truly buried the hatchet remains a mystery. But on Wednesday, Hurts made it crystal clear that he's not interested in rehashing the past — he's got a Super Bowl to defend.
