‘The fence never got mended’ – A.J. Brown, Jalen Hurts ‘personal issue’ drove the divorce between the Eagles WR-QB duo
It’s June 1 and the Philadelphia Eagles window to trade WR A.J. Brown is open. But how did we get here in the first place? One large national voice dives into the split between the two former friends, soon to be former teammates.
A.J. Brown trade watch is officially live as the calendar flips to June, shifting the contractual details for the Philadelphia Eagles’ flexibility to move the All-Pro, Super Bowl winning receiver. Rumors have been swirling around the broken friendship between Brown and Eagles QB Jalen Hurts as one of the driving factors of Brown wanting out of Philly.
As the NFL world awaits to see where Brown gets traded to and for what type of compensation, the mystery around what happened to he and Hurts continues to simmer. The gas burner was turned up to high as Brown’s mid-May wedding was not attended by Hurts, while several current and former Eagles teammates were there.
Skip Bayless teases what drove the A.J. Brown and Jalen Hurts breakup
When the Tennessee Titans traded Brown to Philadelphia on draft night in April 2022, Hurts was the first personal call the receiver made. As someone who covers the Titans, it was known how close the two were dating back to their high school recruitment days. In the spring of 2022, before the trade, they worked out together.
Skip Bayless on The Arena Gridiron show went into as much detail as it felt he was comfortable to go, leaving us wanting more.
“They have completely fallen apart,” Bayless begins. “Jalen once hosted A.J. on a recruiting trip to Alabama, and that’s where it started. They remain close in college, and Jalen is the godparent of AJ’s daughter, which came from a separate relationship, and she was born in 2020. They had, about three years ago, a personal issue – I’ll just call it that – between the two of them, that was so bad that the fence never quite got mended on A.J.’s part. They did make enough peace with each other that obviously they did win a championship together.”
The Eagles won the Super Bowl in February of 2025. Hurts was the Super Bowl MVP. Brown had three catches, 43 yards and a score in the win over the Kansas City Chiefs. During the three year span Bayless is referencing, the Eagles lost to the Chiefs in February of 2023. It’s unclear if this personal issue was before or after that first Super Bowl.
“AJ never quite got over it, and never quite got right with it,” Bayless said. “So it was no surprise to me that, I’m going to assume, Jalen was not invited. I don’t know that for a fact, but I’m gonna assume he just was not invited to the wedding.”
“All of the above is why almost certainly after June 1 A.J. Brown will no longer be a Philadelphia Eagle, and he will get traded. Most people think it’s New England, but we’ll see about that. But that he will no longer be Jalen’s teammate. And from what I’m told, Jalen got okay with A.J., but A.J. never got okay with Jalen.”
The human in me sees this as truly unfortunate, if it’s the case. An easy Google search of the two players shows many celebration photos of them together after connecting on touchdowns, even after this ‘personal issue’ Bayless is sharing.
Where will A.J. Brown get traded?
It has been assumed for months that Brown would get traded to the New England Patriots to reunite with his head coach in Tennessee, Mike Vrabel. Vrabel has obviously been through his off-field drama with Dianna Russini this spring (involving the Titans trading of Brown), but it makes a whole lot of football sense for young QB Drake Maye.
Other NFL teams that have been rumored to have interest are the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Cleveland Browns, and the Los Angeles Rams.
It feels safe to assume the Rams are no longer an option with June 1’s blockbuster trade to acquire defensive player of the year and sack record breaker Myles Garrett. However, the top-tier WR remains the only “need” on that roster to win the Super Bowl. Don’t put anything past Rams GM Les Snead.