AJ Brown and Jalen Hurts have elevated each other to elite levels | Yahoo Fantasy Football Forecast
In the Yahoo Fantasy Football Forecast, Matt Harmon and Dalton Del Don discuss the connection between Philadelphia Eagles QB Jalen Hurts and WR AJ Brown, and talk about how they have both elevated each other’s game to elite levels.
Video Transcript
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MATT HARMON: I think Hurts has been great in fantasy, obviously, since the Eagles bye week. And I think what's been so interesting, the damn Titans fired their general manager the day after they-- not the day after but a couple of days after-- they lose to AJ Brown and the Eagles and stuff like that. I think what's been crazy about Eagles, like AJ Brown with the Eagles this year, I always think he's been a full-field player, like a guy that can separate at all levels, a guy that can win on go routes. But he was always used as an over-the-middle in-breaking bully wide receiver.
And it's crazy that Jalen Hurts' biggest strengths have always been throwing outside the numbers, like throwing deeper passes along the sideline, stuff like that. And it's just one of those situations where these two guys have brought out the best in each other. And we know that obviously from the raw stats perspective, but the fact that Hurts is bringing out qualities that were there to be unlocked with AJ Brown in Tennessee but have now been unlocked here in the Eagles offense, I think it's just a really big testament to Hurts' growth and development as a player.
DALTON DEL DON: And last week, in hindsight, it was just such an obvious DFS stack. Facing a pass funnel Tennessee Titans defense without Goddard. You got DeVonta Smith and AJ Brown and the concentrated targets, and Brown's revenge game, oh man, it paid off big time. AJ Brown, not only did he have that 41-yard-- although if it was moved to a 40-yard-- catch, but in back-to-back plays. I don't know if you saw that, but a penalty nullified the first one and then on the next play it was like the most separation on a 25-yard TD pass in the last five years. He's just a beast.
Obviously, we can look back at his overall numbers. And remember one of those games, like Davante Adams, it was basically like he did not play while dealing with an illness. When we look back at the box score. But yeah, Jalen Hurts has been awesome, an MVP candidate. This team is the real deal, obviously, with Jimmy Garoppolo going down and the way the Eagles look now. I mean, yeah, they look pretty well set to be the favorite to come out of that conference.
MATT HARMON: I don't normally do stuff like this, but somebody else brought an old tweet of mine back into my mention, so then I went to look at the replies. I tweeted on draft night, right after the AJ Brown trade, that Brown has all the ability to be a legit top five NFL wide receiver. 100% worth the trade, the contract, all of it. Him and DeVonta Smith awesome tandem for the Eagles going forward. And I felt strongly about Brown as a player before coming to Philadelphia, felt strongly. But like the replies to that? Tough, tough, tough scene in terms of the doubters for Jalen Hurts.
And I think it's just the lesson that I take away from a guy like Hurts, number one, you get a transformative talent at wide receiver and put him in the offense, you can take a step, obviously. But Hurts had shown signs of incremental growth over the last four years of playing football. And sometimes it really pays off to use your imagination that a guy who has shown positive signs can take another step. And I think we've seen that, obviously, with Hurts this year. It's just a good lesson to remember.