Philadelphia Eagles star A.J. Brown understands the importance of knocking out a few pages of a book whenever you can — even on the sidelines of an NFL playoff game.
Brown, 27, was caught by Fox cameras reading while sitting on the bench of the Eagles’ Wild Card playoff game against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, January 12, which raised some eyebrows of football fans watching at home.
“Reading a book instead of screaming at your quarterback for missing you on a long touchdown,” one viewer wrote via X. “AJ Brown is an A+ teammate and a scholar.”
Another joked, “Packers are so ass AJ Brown started reading a book mid game 😂.”
As it turns out, Brown’s reading material came with a specific purpose. The wide receiver was reading from a self-help book called Inner Excellence, which he said he brings with him to every game for “peace.”
“That’s the first time I heard y’all got me on camera,” Brown told reporters after the game. “It’s got a lot of points in there … it’s a lot of mental parts about it. For me, the game is mental. I believe I can do anything and everything.”
Brown explained that the book helps him “refresh every drive, regardless if I score a touchdown or I drop a pass, I always go back to that book every drive and re-focus.”
After the game, Brown showed reporter James Palmer a number of the passages from the book that he has highlighted.
One of them read, “We’ve all had times when everything came together in perfect harmony: sacred moments, when we were totally immersed in the experience and felt fully alive. When these moments occur, we wish, even for a split second, we had the courage to pursue this risky path with all our heart.”
After Brown’s viral moment, Inner Excellence — which was written by professional baseball player Jim Murphy and released in 2020 — hit No. 1 on the Amazon Books Best Sellers List.
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts was asked about Brown’s reading habits during his postgame press conference on Sunday, saying “I’ve never seen him read.”
“I’ve seen him with the book in his hands,” Hurts, 26, continued. “Everybody has a different thing, finds their flow in different ways. That’s how he chooses to do it.”
Hurts and Brown only connected for one completed pass during Sunday’s game, but the Eagles managed to defeat the Packers 22-10.
They advanced to the NFL Divisional Round on Sunday, January 19 against the winner of Monday, January 13’s game between the Los Angeles Rams and Minnesota Vikings.
