PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A.J. Brown lingered with some of his Eagles teammates outside the Los Angeles Lakers' locker room like any fan who had even a hint of a chance to hug it out with LeBron James.
Sure enough, James spotted Brown, Darius Slay and other Eagles players, threw his arm as thick as a log around Brown’s shoulder and posed for photos with the NFC champions. James knows a thing or two — four, actually — about winning championships, and the good fortune of truly rubbing shoulders with the NBA's scoring king was one the star Eagles receiver could not pass up.
“He's one of my favorite players,” Brown said. “I didn't grow up watching Michael Jordan. I grew up watching LeBron.”
Brown even ripped a page out of James' championship playbook this season when he was caught reading a book on the bench. James flipped through “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho during a shootaround in the 2018 NBA Eastern Conference Finals while Brown passed time during a game with “ Inner Excellence ” by self-help author Jim Murphy.
Brown, who studied journalism while in college at Mississippi, knows the ultimate headline in bold letters above the fold still awaits the Eagles: Super Bowl champions.
Brown and the Eagles were oh so close to hoisting the Lombardi Trophy when they lost 38-35 to the Kansas City Chiefs two years ago. Here the teams are again, ready for a rematch next weekend in New Orleans, with the Eagles still haunted by the memory of how they let their chance at winning the franchise's second Super Bowl championship slip away in the final minutes.
A play here, a play there and the Eagles could have been Super Bowl champions. Instead, most Eagles players tense up and recoil at any questions — quarterback Jalen Hurts replied “next question” when asked his most vivid memory of the Super Bowl — about that game and Brown recounted a missed opportunity for him to score a touchdown that could have swayed the outcome.
“The play really kept me up thinking about, how did I miss that and what I got confused on,” Brown said.
The play?
“I don't want to get into it because we may run it back,” he said.
Time for the Chiefs to fire up the game film.
Brown otherwise did his part that February night in Arizona, with six catches for 96 yards and a touchdown against the Chiefs. Those kind of numbers are the norm for Brown. Playing through injuries that cost him four games and an often staid passing attack, Brown still finished with 67 catches and a team-high 1,079 yards this season, the third straight year he's topped 1,000 yards receiving with the Eagles and fifth time overall in six NFL seasons.
“A.J. is the best receiver that this city has ever seen,” coach Nick Sirianni said.
Brown was rewarded last April with a three-year contract extension that included $84 million in guaranteed money. He was set to become the highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL at $32 million a season — until Minnesota's Justin Jefferson topped him later that summer — and he could earn as much as $96 million over the life of the extension.
He's paid like an elite receiver.
In the Super Bowl, Brown said, he felt like nothing but a “paid actor.”
Brown said if he had his way, the Eagles would arrive Friday in New Orleans, hold a walkthrough on Saturday and play the game Sunday. His Super Bowl experience was like something out of a movie where he played the role of football player rather than acting like he would in a regular-season lead-up to a game. He has tried to steel his emotions amid this year's Super Bowl hype.
“It's about us, but it's not about us,” he said. “We have so much we have to do for everyone else. The media, the fans. There’s only so little time that we get to focus on what’s important and that’s the game.”
The Eagles have a decided edge over the Chiefs among receivers, with Brown the head of the pack.
DeVonta Smith, who topped 1,000 yards receiving the previous two seasons, also missed four games but led the Eagles with 68 catches and had 833 yards receiving. Tight end Dallas Goedert — who threw three stiff-arms in a playoff touchdown against Green Bay — and even 2,000-yard rusher Saquon Barkley are regular threats to catch the ball.
“They take pride in the way they catch the ball. They take pride in the way they run routes,” Sirianni said. “They take pride in the way they change games with the ball in their hands. And they take pride in the way they block and help their teammates succeed.”
The Chiefs boast tight end Travis Kelce — who has lost a step but still had 97 regular-season catches — but top wide receivers DeAndre Hopkins and Juju Smith-Schuster were each held without a catch in a playoff win against Houston.
Brown said he's been turning down media requests “left and right” because when it comes to Super Bowl hype, “none of this stuff matters.”
All he cares about is winning that championship ring — just like LeBron.
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