Jalen Hurts on A.J. Brown saying they drifted apart: I can't challenge anyone's perspective

Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts spoke to reporters on Wednesday for the first time since wide receiver A.J. Brown was traded to the Patriots and he was asked about comments Brown made about their relationship last week.

Brown said “nothing happened, people just grow apart” when asked about Hurts and that he thought both men accepted that sometimes “you just you find yourself drifting away” despite being closer when Brown first joined the Eagles. Brown said he still hopes Hurts accomplishes “everything his heart desires” and Hurts said he couldn’t push back at someone else’s feelings.

“I’m not in the place to challenge anyone’s perspective on anything,” Hurts said at a press conference. “Seemingly so, it was. That’s where I am. I’ve always been focused on the collective. I’ve always put my energy towards that. As a leader, I’ve always put an onus on giving maximum effort to achieve the shared mission we have in the team.”

Hurts said before the trade that nothing can take away what he and Brown accomplished as members of the Eagles. He returned to that theme when asked if he’s disappointed about how things came to an end.

“You come into it and you have a sense of pride in how it began, and definitely what we were able to accomplish,” Hurts said. “The same thing I said last time, 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.”

Hurts has a new offensive coordinator to go with a revamped receiving corps, so there will be plenty of on-field matters to keep the quarterback occupied heading into the regular season.