A.J. Brown says “nothing happened” with Hurts

A.J. Brown, speaking after his trade to the Patriots, downplayed the focus on his relationship with Jalen Hurts, saying the two “just drift” apart over time and that “nothing happened” between them or their families.

A.J. Brown didn’t mince words when asked about the long-running chatter surrounding his relationship with Jalen Hurts—especially as Brown begins a new chapter with the New England Patriots after his Monday trade.

In an interview with Maria Taylor, Brown said he doesn’t understand why so much attention had been placed on how he and Hurts got along. He pointed to where their bond ended by the time of Brown’s final season with the Eagles, acknowledging that the two were “not as close as we once were.”

What changed, Brown said, wasn’t a rupture tied to a specific moment. “Nothing happened, people just grow apart,” he said. Brown insisted there was no single incident behind the distance—adding that “nothing happened between me and him. or our families. wives. anything.” He said the situation never turned on anything like that. and that “nothing like that ever happened.”.

The receiver framed it as the kind of natural shift that can happen inside a long season and a long partnership. “Life happens and you just look up sometimes and you just you find yourself drifting away and that’s fine,” Brown said. He added that “both parties accepted that.”

For Brown, the football impact mattered most. He said the distance off the field didn’t interfere with what the Eagles were trying to do on it. “That didn’t stop anything the team was trying to do on the field,” he said.

Brown also made clear he still wants Hurts to succeed. He said he wants Hurts to “do well” and “accomplish everything his heart desires.” But with his departure, Brown said he’ll no longer have a hand in helping Hurts—or the Eagles—reach any of their goals moving forward.

A.J. Brown Jalen Hurts Philadelphia Eagles New England Patriots Maria Taylor NFL trade wide receiver