This is still very much in the early stages as the Eagles put their offensive packages together for the 2022 regular season, but it's safe to believe that Nick Sirianni and his staff will test their creativity to the maximum extent possible. Adding a player as dynamic, as proven, and as unique as A.J. Brown to a young and explosive wide receiver corps makes it that way.
What have we seen from the Eagles in just a couple of days of Training Camp at the NovaCare Complex? It's been crisp and it's been fast offensively, but from a scheme standpoint, I mean, the offense has yet to take flight. We aren't really going to know a whole lot about the plans, about how to use Brown and how to utilize his skill set into an offense that features the silky-smooth, ankle-breaker in second-year wide receiver DeVonta Smith and the speed and big-play ability of Quez Watkins, among others. The Eagles have a tight end in Dallas Goedert who has the ability to do anything and everything and, of course, a running game that led the league in 2021 and features a deep backfield and a quarterback in Jalen Hurts who puts so much extra pressure on a defense with his multiple skills.
Oh, the fun ...
Anyway, this is a daydreaming kind of column because, to be honest, I'm just in that kind of mood. From the moment the Eagles traded for Brown on the first night of the 2022 NFL Draft, visions of big plays have been in every fan's dreams, right? A Pro Bowl receiver in 2020, Brown accumulated 24 touchdown receptions in his three seasons with Tennessee, averaging 16.2 yards on his 185 receptions. So, there is a reason to be excited.
The wonder here is how the Eagles plan to incorporate Brown into the passing game. He's strong with his hands, he invites contact after the catch, and he's just physical and ripped and someone who has been a handful for defenses to cover. And it spurred this thought: How will defensive coordinators plan for both Brown and his special kind of game and Smith and his special kind of game? If you've got two receivers who are legitimate A-level players, how will that stress a defense?
Brown and Smith are both members of the mutual admiration society and they've clicked from the get-go. You see them lining up for positional drills and they are there, always 1-2 taking the reps. They push each other in the best of ways – "He's someone who has been in the NFL and who has done it, so it's helpful that can show us the way," Smith says of Brown – and they're as interested as all of us to see how this is going to be configured.
"The ball's not going to go to me every play," Brown said, "and he's (Smith) got to do a job just like I do. If I can help him any way I can, I'm going to do that. I would like the same thing from him, too. If he sees something that can help me, I think he would tell me the same thing."
They're talking every day in meetings and on the field and when they review the film. This is very much a work in progress, one the Eagles hope holds greatness when the regular season begins and we can see a plan months in the making come to life.
