Keeping a superstar — and keeping him happy

First, some stats to prepare for the weekend. The Philadelphia Eagles are undefeated — a perfect 4–0 to start the 2025 NFL Season. They are also undefeated when Saquon Barkley, AJ Brown, Devonta Smith, and Jalen Hurts play a game in its entirety.

Before you rush to google my accuracy here, consider this. The Eagles lost only three games during the 2024–2025 season — when Jalen Hurts was knocked out against the Commanders last season at Northwest Stadium, last season in Tampa Bay where neither AJ Brown nor Devonta Smith took the field in a 31–16 loss, and a week one loss to the Falcons in the home opener without AJ Brown. That means that it’s been 281 days and counting since the Eagles lost a game. Not bad.

Furthermore, if you are interested in the Eagles playing deep in the chill of January and beyond, then you need a big-play receiver. The Philadelphia Eagles, in fact, have never advanced to a Super Bowl without one. In 1980, Harold Carmichael was a favorite target of Ron Jaworski’s. When Andy Reid’s Eagles finally broke through in the NFC Championship Game in bottleneck in 2005, they did so with Terrell Owens hauling in fourteen regular-season touchdown passes from Donovan McNabb. In that great-gift of a postseason gem in 2018, it was Alshon Jeffrey who hauled in targets from Nick Foles. 

When the Eagles decided to move on from Doug Pederson — the only coach who had ever won a Super Bowl with the franchise — and forward with Jalen Hurts as the franchise signal-caller it only made sense to surround him with as many weapons as possible. Give Howie Roseman a wishlist and you’ll indeed get your wish.

In 2022, the Eagles made a trade with the Titans to land superstar wide receiver AJ Brown in return for the #18 and #101 overall picks. In 2021, the Eagles traded with the Dallas Cowboys in order to move up from the #12 to the #10 pick to select Alabama star receiver Devonta Smith. The result was an appearance in Super Bowl LVII. 

Now in 2025, amid an undefeated September despite a stagnant offense over four games, star receiver AJ Brown isn’t happy — even releasing a tweet about it after the game. And can you blame him? After all, AJ Brown is a play-maker, which tends to work better when the offense is making plays.

And what should the Eagles do about this discontent in the receiver room? Well, you could continue to throw AJ Brown the ball. After all, why would you not? It’s only an undefeated streak on the line, after all. And the alternative for the Eagles offense would be a harsh reality:

Mark 6:11: “If you’re not welcomed, not listened to, quietly withdraw. Don’t make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and be on your way.”

Michael Thomas Leibrandt lives and works in Abington Township, Pennsylvania.