Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver AJ Brown says he was seriously considering an attempt at becoming a two-sport athlete earlier this year before being traded from the Tennessee Titans during the 2022 NFL Draft.
Brown is a young talent on the rise, and it is why the Eagles traded for him in June and gave him a sizable pay raise to the tune of four years and $100 million. Thus far in his debut season in Philadelphia, the 25-year-old has been everything the team has been hoping for. That includes a 10-catch and 155-yard performance in their season opener.
However, before he landed with the Eagles earlier this year, Brown had a very different outlook for his career in 2022. Many NFL fans do not realize that Brown was not just a football star during his formative years. He was also a talented baseball prospect and actually was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 19th round of the 2016 MLB Draft. With his NFL career not quite going in the direction he preferred to start the year, Brown claims he was seriously thinking about trying to return to baseball.
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In January, Brown sent out a tweet stating, “Sometimes I think about playing both sports again. Padres, all I need is a workout. I still got [it].” While most sports fans shrugged the comment off as the usual bravado of a young and talented athlete, it seems that the Padres took the comment seriously.
Philadelphia Eagles receiver and San Diego Padres were in serious discussions earlier this year
On Friday, Brown revealed in a conversation with Deleware Online that the tweet actually led to real discussions with San Diego about restarting his baseball career. However, there was one key snag in the talks that derailed a return to the diamond. But the Eagles star does admit an eventual jump back to baseball down the line is still a possibility.
- AJ Brown stats (2021): 63 catches, 869 yards, 5 TDs
“I was dead serious. they had reached out to me. They were about to invite me to spring training. They were just waiting on an answer from me. They were telling me if I’m [still] going to play football, then I can’t play baseball. I can’t just play around with [baseball]. So it kind of killed my chances for the moment. … Who knows? Maybe when I’m done playing football, I’ll go play baseball.”
AJ Brown on possible mlb career
After landing a six-figure deal in June, it seems that Brown made the right choice. And considering the fact that his current team is 2-0 and his old squad is winless to start the new season, it is doubtful that he is two broken up about not seriously pursuing a return to baseball in 2022.
The Eagles return to the NFL games today schedule on Sunday in a 1 PM ET divisional matchup with the Washington Commanders on FOX.