In Roob's Eagles Obs: Trying to make sense of mystifying A.J. Brown situation

By Reuben Frank • Published November 2, 2025

Growing weary of A.J. Brown drama, understanding Howie Roseman's cornerback additions and a historic stretch for Jalen Hurts. That's a taste of what's in store for you with this week's Roob's Random Eagles Observations.

There's no bye week for Roob's Obs! 

1. This constant A.J. Brown drama is exhausting. Hey, the dude is a top-five wide receiver and he’s higher than fifth. I love watching him play. Guy’s a beast. But the social media stuff isn’t helping anybody and I can’t imagine Jeff Lurie, Howie Roseman and Nick Sirianni are thrilled with it. He never comes out and says what he’s thinking, he just keeps sending out these cryptic tweets that leave everybody guessing and force the media to run to his locker and ask what he meant. Does he just crave attention? Is he unhappy being an Eagle? Does he want to play elsewhere? Does he have issues with Jalen Hurts? Nobody has any clue because he never comes out and actually says anything, he just hints at it, then either apologizes or says he was misunderstood or just smiles and says he doesn’t want to talk about it. It’s so tiresome. It’s this endless cycle of A.J. sending out social media posts and everybody trying to figure out what he means. How about this: Get rid of social media and just play football and if you have something to say, just come out and say it instead of playing this game of hinting at it with enigmatic tweets. Hey, Brown is not a bad guy. This isn’t T.O. here. This is a dude who plays hard whether he’s running a route or blocking and has never gotten into trouble off the field. But the constant drama is just silly and unnecessary. Brown isn’t getting traded this year, but if it doesn’t stop I wonder when it will just be too much for the Eagles to deal with.

2. The Eagles have faced 841 regular-season passes by opposing quarterbacks since their last interception by a cornerback.

3A. With slot corner Michael Carter and outside corner Jaire Alexander both in the fold after two more Howie Roseman trades, the Eagles still have question marks at cornerback but they also have options. Carter in the slot and Cooper DeJean is an option. Alexander at outside corner is an option. But those are hardly locks. The 1-7 Jets gave up on Carter and the 3-5 Ravens gave up on Alexander, so we’re not talking about guys at the top of their game here. The Eagles basically gave up a couple late-round picks in the hopes that Carter and Alexander can help a secondary that needs help. But neither one is a lock. Carter is here in case Vic Fangio wants to move Cooper DeJean to outside corner full-time so they have an experienced slot to replace DeJean. But that’s hardly a lock. And Alexander is here to see if he can revive his career to the point where he’s a better option at outside corner than Kelee Ringo, Adoree’ Jackson or Jackorian Bennett. And that’s hardly a lock, either. Carter and Alexander are no-risk moves. Howie didn’t give up much for either one, they’ve both been very good players in the past – a few years in the past – and if they don’t work out, no harm done. They give Fangio options. But it could very well be that the Eagles’ strongest cornerback lineup is still Quinyon Mitchell and Ringo outside and DeJean inside. 

3B. With these trade-deadline type of moves, it’s never as easy as just sticking a new guy out there and saying, "Go play.” There’s a reason most of these moves don’t work. Robert Quinn? Kary Vincent Jr.? Kevin Byard? Genard Avery? Golden Tate? Jay Ajayi certainly helped, but that was eight years ago now. It’s just really challenging for a player to change teams in the middle of a season, learn a new scheme, get used to new coaches, move to a new city, build a rapport with new teammates and go out and play at a high level soon after uprooting his life. 

4. It’s been 38 years and I still can’t wrap my arms around what Reggie White did in 1987. In a strike-shortened season – three games were played by replacement players and a fourth was cancelled – White had 21 sacks in just 12 games. At the time, that was the most sacks in a season and to this day, nearly four decades later, it’s still 6^th-most in NFL history and also remains the Eagles’ single-season record. And he did it in just 12 games, the most sacks ever by an NFL player in a 12-game span within one season. What may be even crazier is that from Week 13 of the 1986 season through Week 12 of 1987, Reggie had 24 sacks in 12 games – an average of two per game. In those 12 games, he had four sacks once, three sacks twice, 2 ½ once, 2.0 sacks four times, 1 ½ once, 1.0 sack twice and no sacks just once – in a win over Washington at the Vet. 

5A. First six weeks of the season, the Eagles ranked 28^th in the NFL with 4.68 yards per play. The last two weeks, they rank second with 7.43 yards per play. 

5B. That 4.68 figure was the Eagles’ worst through Week 6 since 2003. The 7.43 figure is their best in any two-game span since Week 15 and 16 in 2013.

6. The win over the Giants last weekend was the Eagles’ 11^th consecutive home win against NFC East opponents, the longest streak in franchise history. The Eagles’ last loss at the Linc within the division was 32-21 to Washington in November of 2022. Their previous longest home winning streak within the division was 10 in a row over the 2001 through 2004 seasons, a streak that ended with a 21-20 loss to the Cowboys in November 2005. The Eagles led by two touchdowns in both the Dallas loss in 2005 and the Washington loss in 2022.

7. Jalen Hurts Stat of the Week: Hurts’ 155.2 passer rating in his last two games is 5^th-highest in NFL history by a player in any two-game span (minimum 40 pass attempts). In wins over the Vikings and Giants, Hurts was 34-for-43 for 505 yards with seven touchdowns and no interceptions. That’s nine incomplete passes, seven touchdowns. The only players with a higher passer rating in a two-game span: Jared Goff (157.5 in 2024), Brock Purdy (157.3 in 2023), Nick Foles (155.3 in 2013) and Kurt Warner (155.3 in 1999). 

8. This is the first year since sacks became an official stat in 1982 – that’s 44 seasons ago – that the Eagles haven’t had an edge rusher / defensive end with at least two sacks through eight games. Their leading edge rusher remains the retired Za’Darius Smith with 1 ½ sacks. Jalyx Hunt and Patrick Johnson have one each. There have been four seasons where their leading edge through eight games had 2.0 sacks – Clyde Simmons in 1993, Hall of Famer Richard Dent in 1997, Ndukwe Kalu in 2003 and Vinny Curry in 2013. 

9A. I think it’s pretty cool that Mack Hollins, the Eagles’ 4^th-round pick back in 2017, is still playing. Hollins is in his first year with the Patriots, his sixth team, and playing with Drake Maye he’s got 18 catches for 208 yards and two touchdowns. What’s impressive is that Hollins has only been targetted 21 times, and his 85.7 catch percentage is tied for best in the NFL among receivers with at least 20 targets. Stefon Diggs is also at 85.7. 

9B. Hollins has played in 120 games, 6^th-most ever by a wide receiver drafted by the Eagles. He trails DeSean Jackson (183), Harold Carmichael (173), Nelson Agholor (149), Jason Avant (148) and Tommy McDonald (140). 

9C. Hollins was a 4^th-round pick in 2017, No. 118 overall. There were 32 wide receivers drafted in 2017 and Hollins was 17^th. But he’s one of only 10 who’s still active. Only five of the 16 taken ahead of him are still playing. Hollins has outlasted all three top-10 WRs taken in 2017 – No. 5 pick Corey Davis, No. 7 pick Mike Williams and No. 9 John Ross, the former (briefly) Eagle. His 2,277 career yards are 10^th-most out of those 32 receivers taken in 2017 and his 17 touchdowns are 9^th-most. The only other WR the Eagles have drafted in the fourth round with 17 TD catches? That would be good ol’ Billy Dewell, the Eagles’ 4^th-round pick (but 29^th overall) out of SMU in 1939. Billy also had 17 TD catches but they were all for the Chicago Cardinals. 

9D. Where else are you getting freaking Mack Hollins stats? 

10. It’s crazy what kind of impact one big game can have on a player’s or team’s stats. Going into the second Giants game, Saquon Barkley ranked 23^rd in the NFL with 369 rushing yards, and his 3.3 average was 37^th of 38 backs with at least 50 carries. One 150-yard game against the Giants moved him up to 10^th in the league in rushing with 519 yards and tied for 25^th with a 4.1 average. As a team, the Eagles ranked 29^th in rushing yards and 31^st in yards per carry before Sunday. Now they’re all the way up to 14^th in yards and 20^th in yards per carry at 4.1.

https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/aj-brown-michael-carter-jaire-alexander-howie-roseman-jalen-hurts/693390/

That INT stat needs to change and change pretty quickly. Q didn’t get many INTs last year and that’s fine because he’s still a shutdown corner… But if he wants to get more recognition and get those pro bowl votes and all pro votes then he’s going to need to add INTs.