The Philadelphia Eagles lost on Monday Night Football to the Atlanta Falcons, dropping their first game of the season without top wide receiver A.J. Brown available. Already coming off the loss, NFL news only seemed to get worse for Philadelphia after the game.
On Monday night, ESPN’s Lisa Salters reported that she spoke to Brown about the injury and the potential length of his absence. Philadelphia is on a short week after playing on Monday Night Football, having just a few days to prepare for a road game against the New Orleans Saints.
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- A.J. Brown stats (ESPN): 199 receptions, 3,071 receiving yards, 19 touchdowns in 35 career games with the Philadelphia Eagles
Brown told Salters that he expects to miss “a couple of weeks” due to his hamstring injury, which he said occurred as a “freak thing” during Friday’s practice when he popped up on the Eagles injury report. On Monday, Philadelphia’s offense didn’t have a single passing play for 20-plus yards without Brown.
However, speaking to reporters after the game, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni addressed the report of Brown’s long-term absence and seemingly indicated that no definitive decision has been made.
“We’ll see. I don’t know that yet. You know I won’t give you that information yet because I don’t know. We’ll see how that goes.”
Philadelphia Eagles coach Nick Sirianni on report A.J. Brown will miss multiple weeks (H/T Zach Berman)
- A.J. Brown contract (Spotrac): $11.878 million cap hit in 2024, $17.639 million cap hit in 2025, $23.509 million cap hit in 2026. Under team control through 2029
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When will A.J. Brown return?
Considering the information came directly from Brown, who would obviously know his injury better than anyone, it seems highly unlikely the All-Pro wide receiver will be on the field in Week 3. A second-team All-Pro selection in multiple seasons, Brown’s own timeline suggests this will be a multi-game absence.
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The Eagles schedule could have a significant influence on when the Pro Bowl receiver rejoins the team. Philadelphia plays the Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the next two weeks, with both games on the road. Considering there is a Week 5 bye, it’s realistically possible that Brown will be kept out until the Eagles’ home game on Oct. 13 against the Cleveland Browns.
In Brown’s absence, the Eagles ran the football 37 times with Barkley (22 carries) and Jalen Hurts (13 carries) handling a majority of the workload. As for the target distribution, DeVonta Smith drew 10 targets on Monday Night Football, exactly 30 percent of Hurts’ 30 pass attempts. As long as Brown is out, the only viable fantasy starters on the Eagles offense are Hurts, Barkley, Smith and Dallas Goedert.
