Eagles Injury News: AJ Brown downgraded to OUT for Monday’s Wildcard matchup with Tampa Bay

One of the worst possible scenarios for the Eagles heading into Wildcard Weekend has just come to fruition. No. 1 wideout AJ Brown has been downgraded to out for Monday’s matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Eagles WR1 officially OUT for Monday

Eagles’ WR A.J. Brown, who worked hard in his rehab to try to make it back this week, is out for Monday night’s wild-card matchup vs. the Bucs due to his sprained knee, per sources. Brown has made enough progress that, if the Eagles advance, he could return for the divisional… pic.twitter.com/CsOBMWgE1q

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 13, 2024

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Brown sprained his knee in the regular season finale against the New York Giants and despite trying to go all week, he won’t be able to suit up Monday night. This is obviously a huge blow for an Eagles offense that was struggling even with an All-Pro receiver in their lineup. Without him, the Eagles WR depth chart will look something like this:

• DeVonta Smith (who’s fresh off an injured ankle)
• Julio Jones
• Olamide Zaccheaus
• Quez Watkins
• Britain Covey

Doesn’t inspire much confidence, does it?

Brown has been the subject of a lot of speculation over the past day or two as well, after he deactivated his Twitter account and removed all of the Eagles related content from his Instagram. Some said it was because Brown just wanted to focus on the playoffs without any distractions, but it seems pretty clear what it was now.

The Eagles coaching staff forced the starters to play in a meaningless game in Week 18. Now, I know the Eagles still technically had a chance to win the division if the Cowboys lost to Washington. But in all reality, Philly forfeited the NFC East crown when they lost to Arizona the week prior. Relying on Washington to pull off an upset and scoreboard watch the whole time wasn’t a smart move by any stretch of the imagination.

Brown is clearly upset with the coaching staff, even though he has publicly defended them and held a players only meeting to emphasize how important it is to trust them right now. How can anyone in that locker room trust Nick Sirianni after the player who publicly vouched for them is now injured because the same coach sent him out there to play in a meaningless game?

Not only did Brown get injured, Jalen Hurts has barely thrown this week because of his dislocated the middle finger on his throwing hand. To top things off, the only safety on the roster who was making plays, Sydney Brown, tore his ACL.

Nick Sirianni is likely coaching for his job on Monday night, and now he has to do it without his best receiver and a banged up quarterback, all because of his own decision to play these guys last week. Very cool.