A.J. Brown is no longer in Philadelphia catching passes from quarterback Jalen Hurts, but the former teammates continue to dominate the headlines. Both the Eagles and the New England Patriots have opened training camp this week. While Hurts is adjusting to life without his top receiver in Philadelphia, Brown is learning a new offense led by quarterback Drake Maye and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels in New England.

Their separation has sparked plenty of debate over who will come out on top this season, with former NFL players T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Emmanuel Acho both siding with the star wide receiver.

“A.J. Brown is going to have, I’m gonna say, 93 catches, 1300 yards, 9-12 touchdowns. Who wins that?” TJ said on Speakeasy. “That’s what he gonna do. He’s going to get himself back on, ‘Let me get back on this Hall of Fame trajectory that I was on.’ Because A.J. Brown is going to go to work. He has a quarterback that’s going to get him the ball, and he also has a coordinator that knows how to get him the ball in Josh McDaniels.”

Meanwhile, Emmanuel Acho also sided with TJ’s observations, adding, “I think AJ’s going to win the breakup.

“I do think Jalen Hurts is going to ball this year because I think Jalen Hurts is I think Sean Mannion is going to call a game that forces Jalen Hurts to be uncomfortable. I think Jalen Hurts is probably going to have more interceptions than he’s ever had, but I think he’s going to have more passing yards than he’s ever had.”

Maye and Brown didn’t get the start they probably had expected before training camp. Per reports, at the start of camp, Maye completed just one of seven passes intended for Brown, including an interception. However, as the practices progressed, the two produced the sharpest practice session of camp on Thursday.

According to The Boston Herald’s Zach Cox, Maye missed his first pass of 11-on-11 drills while targeting A.J. Brown. However, the third-year quarterback bounced back by completing his final eight passes, including three touchdown throws. Other reports also noted that Maye went 4-of-5 when targeting his new No. 1 receiver during team drills, with two of those completions resulting in touchdowns on slant routes.

Meanwhile, the atmosphere in Philadelphia has been noticeably quieter. NFL insider Ian Rapoport has been touring training camps across the league and recently visited the Eagles. Based on his observations, he noted that Philadelphia’s camp feels very different from what it had been over the past two years when A.J. Brown was still on the roster.

“The no A.J. Brown is certainly different,” Rapoport said on The Pat McAfee Show. “I mean, we’ve talked about A.J. Brown as it relates to the Philadelphia Eagles for 2 years, and here it’s like just much quieter. Like there’s always noise around the Eagles. We, in the news world, always are going to talk about them, but it’s not the same. It’s not like A.J. said this today; how do you react to it? It is for sure much quieter.”

That’s how things have reportedly been in Philly after Brown’s departure to the Patriots. At the same time, however, Jalen Hurts has been rotating through multiple targets at practices, including Darius Cooper, Dontayvion Wicks and DeVonta Smith. How this breakup would eventually take place during the 2026 season remains to be seen.