PHILADELPHIA -- Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts addressed the A.J. Brown trade for the first time since it became official Wednesday, briefly focusing on what they achieved during their four years together before spinning things forward.
"You come into it and you have a sense of pride in how it began and definitely what we were able to accomplish," he said. "Nothing can take that away. For the great things that we did, now it's time to focus on achieving great things with this new iteration of the team."
Brown and Hurts joined up to help Philadelphia to four playoff appearances in as many years, including two trips to the Super Bowl and a world championship. Brown set a career high with 1,496 receiving yards in 2022 and followed that up with another 1,400-plus-yard campaign in 2023.
But the passing offense left something to be desired over the past season-plus, and Brown was not shy about sharing his frustrations. He expressed his desire to be elsewhere at the beginning of the offseason and was officially traded to the New England Patriots on June 1 for a future first-round pick and a fifth-rounder.
Brown recently acknowledged that he and Hurts are not as tight as they once were but that there is "still a lot of love" between the once best friends.
"I'm not in a place to challenge anyone's perspective on anything," Hurts said. "That's where I am. I have always been focused on the collective, put my energy towards that, and as a leader, I've always put an onus on giving maximum effort to achieve the shared mission we have as a team."
The Eagles are in the midst of installing a new scheme under new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion. The learning curve was evident during minicamp, as the passing game looked out of sync at times. Still, Hurts and others expressed optimism about where the offense is heading.
"I thought it was a really good spring. Being able to onboard another new system and put everything together, lay the foundation, I'm encouraged by that," Hurts said. "I'm encouraged by the work we were able to put in. We have a fun summer ahead of us."