As A.J. Brown made his final trip to the Eagles facilities to collect his things and say his goodbyes, he also made a stop at the wall of Pro Bowler pictures to add his signature. The new Patriots receiver didn’t just sign his name, however, according to Mike Garafolo, Brown also included a message:
“The best to ever play here. – Always Open”
Best wide receiver to play here? Maybe. Best to ever play for the Eagles? No. Not even close.
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Brown finished his career in Philadelphia as the 9th-most receiving yards (5,034) in franchise history, just 15 yards above DeVonta Smith, who will assuredly take over at No. 9 within a game or two in 2026, and could even finish the season all the way up at No. 6 on the list behind Zach Ertz.
If Brown would’ve stayed with the Eagles, a spot among the Top 5 or 6 would have probably been his eventually — but, now he’s in New England, and he has a chance to fall out of the Top 10 altogether if Dallas Goedert has 400 receiving yards this season.
Even without being at the top of the all-time receiving yard list for the Eagles, Brown does hold several single-season records for the franchise, including
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Single-Season Receiving Yards: 1,496 yards in 2022, and he holds the No. 2 spot with 1,456 yards in 2023
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Consecutive 1,000-Yard Seasons: 4 consecutive seasons (2022–2025)
Brown was certainly on track to top many more records if he would’ve finished his career in Philly, instead of forcing his way out of the organization — but since that’s not the case, instead of being known as the best to ever play here, the WR will end up a footnote from one of the Eagles more dominant eras, whose career in Philly ended with a lack of effort and respect for the city.
