Eagles receiver AJ Brown explains why he was seen reading a book mid-game in viral video

One of the Philadelphia Eagles wide receivers, AJ Brown, was seen reading a book on the sidelines during the NFL playoffs.

On Sunday (January 12) the Eagles took on the Green Bay Packers with a final score of 22 to 10. Between offensive plays, Fox Sports panned over Brown to find him sitting on the bench, engrossed in a book.

Clips of the athlete reading circulated widely on Twitter/X as fans speculated about what he was reading.

“Reading a book instead of screaming at your quarterback for missing you on a long touchdown. AJ Brown is an A+ teammate and a scholar,” one person wrote.

“AJ Brown reading motivational self-help books on the bench during a game they are winning but he only has one catch is quite possibly the most wide receiver thing I’ve ever seen,” another joked.

After the game, reporters asked the wide receiver if reading on the sidelines was a normal occurrence for him or if it was his way of showing his frustration with the way his team was performing during the game.

“I wasn’t frustrated at all. I figured that’s what y’all probably thought,” he said, according to nfl/story/_/id/43390922/aj-brown-says-book-sign-frustration-read">ESPN. “Why do you always think I be frustrated? Dang. I like to read.”

The book was revealed to be a self-help book titled Inner Excellence: Train Your Mind for Extraordinary Performance and the Best Possible Life by Jim Murphy.

Brown also said he reads the same book at every single game and this was the only time it ended up being caught on camera. “It gives me a sense of peace,” he said when asked why he reads during the football games.

“That’s a book I bring every single game. My teammates call it a recipe… It’s got a lot of points in there. A lot of mental game.”

The Eagles player further discussed the book in a post on X sharing a photo of its cover and various passages that he highlighted. “This game is 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical for me. I bring it to every game and I read it between each drive,” he wrote about the book.

“I use it to refocus and lock in despite what may transpire in the game good or bad. People tend to create controversy when they don’t know the truth.”

Despite Brown’s insistence that he reads Murphy’s book at every game, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts told ESPN he’s only ever seen Brown holding the book.

“I’ve never seen him read [on the sideline]; I’ve seen the book in his hands,” he said. “Everybody has a different thing and finds their flow in different ways. That’s how he chooses to do it.”

Following the team’s win against the Packers, they will be moving on to the Divisional Round of the playoffs where they will play against either the Los Angeles Rams or the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, January 19 at 3 pm. Their opponent will be determined by whoever wins the game on Monday (January 13).