_[In Roob's Eagles Observations: A way-too-soon look at A.J. Brown's Hall of Fame chances](https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/roobs-eagles-observations-a-way-too-soon-look-a-j-brown-hall-of-fame-chances-eagles-offseason-observations/674048/?partner=yahoo&cid=yahoo) originally appeared on [NBC Sports Philadelphia](https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com?cid=yahoo)_
An early look at A.J. Brown’s Hall of Fame chances, the lowest-scoring game in Eagles history and a Josh Uche-Azeez Ojulari comparison.
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We’re off and running with this week’s edition of Roob’s Random Eagles Offseason Observations. And guess what! In three weeks, they won’t be offseason observations anymore!
**1.** It’s very difficult for wide receivers to make the Hall of Fame these days because the game is so passing oriented now and so many guys are piling up huge numbers. There have been 31 receivers with 12,000 yards, and 26 of them have played since 2000. And while once upon a time a guy like Lynn Swann – who never had 900 yards in a season and averaged 606 yards in his short career but was a very good postseason player – became Hall of Famers, now all-timers like Steve Smith, Reggie Wayne, Torry Holt, Anquon Boldin are on the outside looking in, tagged with the dreaded “stat compiler” label, which is ridiculous. They were all elite wide receivers and belong in Canton. Which brings us to A.J. Brown, who is piling up numbers like very few others have done. In his first six seasons, he’s got 446 catches for 7,026 yards and 49 touchdowns. The only other WRs in history to reach those plateaus in their first six years are Larry Fitzgerald, who’ll be a 1st\-ballot Hall of Famer next year, and A.J. Green, whose career was sidelined by injuries after that quick start. Factor in Brown’s 15.8 yards-per-catch average and he stands alone. Nobody has ever done what he’s done through his first six seasons. If you want to break it down by games, who else has 400 catches, 7,000 yards, 49 touchdowns and a 15.8 average after 90 games? Jerry Rice, Randy Moss and Calvin Johnson, three of the greatest ever and three slam-dunk Hall of Famers. That’s the company Brown is in heading into his seventh season. Factor in two Super Bowls and one championship, three Pro Bowls, three all-pro 2nd team selections, big-time postseason production and I don’t know how you look at Brown’s career and not see a guy who’s on track to be a Hall of Famer. Brown just turned 28 last week, and with the way he keeps himself in shape, the quarterback he plays with and the offense he plays in, there’s no reason he can’t play at this level for at least five more years. Let’s say he averages the same numbers through his 32nd birthday as he has in his three years with the Eagles. That gets him to 781 catches, 13,743 yards and 90 touchdowns after the 2029 season, numbers only eight receivers have reached in their entire career – all of them Hall of Famers. And all eight played at least until they were 35. So 32 is conservative. You never know how things are going to go with coaches and teammates and injuries and so many other variables. But I wouldn’t be shocked if by the time all is said and done Brown is at 15,000 yards and 100 touchdowns, numbers only three WRs have reached – Rice, Moss and T.O. (as well as Tony Gonzalez). Brown is that good.
**2A.** Eric Allen, who’ll be enshrined in Canton next month, is only the fourth defensive Hall of Famer the Eagles have ever drafted. Chuck Bednarik, a 1st\-round pick out of Penn in 1949, was the first, and then it was 35 years until they selected Reggie White in the 1984 supplemental draft after he had already played in the USFL. Allen was a 2nd\-round pick in 1988 and Dawk was a 2nd\-round pick in 1996. So Allen and White, who played together from 1988 through 1992, are the only defensive Hall of Famers the Eagles have drafted who have ever played together.
**2B.** The last offensive Hall of Famers the Eagles drafted who played together are Sonny Jurgensen and Tommy McDonald, both drafted in 1957. They played together through 1963.
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**3.** Isaiah Rodgers had a truly under-rated season last year in his one year with the Eagles and his first year on the field since 2022. He played 328 defensive snaps, and according to Stathead analytics, he was targeted 28 times and allowed 13 completions for 118 yards. That’s 4.2 yards per target, which was best in the NFL last year among 128 corners who were targeted at least 20 times. It’s also 4th\-best since Stathead began tracking defensive targets in 2018. Opposing quarterbacks last year completed 46 percent of their passes when targeting Rodgers – 4th\-lowest of those 128 corners. I get why the Eagles didn’t re-sign Rodgers. He got $11.045 million over two years from the Vikings and with Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean and Kelee Ringo he was going to be a backup here, and this offseason was all about getting younger and cheaper. But he was terrific.
**4A.** Cooper DeJean is the youngest player ever with a Super Bowl pick-6 … by more than 500 days. The next-youngest is Tracy Porter of the Saints, who picked off Peyton Manning in Super Bowl XLIV in the Saints’ 31-17 win in Miami. DeJean turned 22 the same day as his 38-yard pick-6 off Patrick Mahomes in February. Porter was 23 years, 180 days. The youngest Eagle previously with a postseason pick-6 was Damon Moore, who was 25 when he had a 59-yard pick-6 off Brad Johnson in the Eagles’ 31-9 win over the Bucs in a 2001 wild-card game. The youngest Eagle ever with a pick-6 in any game? Rookie safety Joe Scarpati was 21 years, 276 days – 89 days younger than DeJean – when he picked off a Don Meredith 4th\-down pass intended for Pettis Norman of the Cowboys in the final minutes of a 24-14 Eagles win at Franklin Field in 1964 and returned it 24 yards for a touchdown.
**4B.** Scarpati was drafted by the Patriots in the 13th round of the AFL draft but signed instead with Vince Lombardi’s NFL Packers, who released him in the preseason, and then signed with the Vikings, who also released him during the summer. He signed with the Eagles and wound up starting for six years, picking off 24 passes – still 8th\-most in franchise history.
**4C.** Scarpati attended Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School, also the alma mater of one-time 110-meter hurdles world record holder and former 49er Renaldo Nehemiah.
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**4D.** After six years with the Eagles, Scarpati was traded to the Saints, where he finished his career in 1970. The Saints only won two games that year, but Scarpati was the holder for kicker Tom Dempsey’s then-NFL record 63-yard field goal against the Lions at Tulane Stadium in 1970. That remains tied for 4th\-longest field goal in NFL history.
**4E.** After he retired, Scarpati settled in Marlton and went into commercial real estate.
**5.** JALEN HURTS STAT OF THE WEEK: Hurts has 139 career touchdowns in 66 career starts – 84 passing and 55 rushing. That’s the 7th\-most all-time by a quarterback in his first 66 starts. He trails only Patrick Mahomes (159-8, 167), Dan Marino (158-3, 161), Aaron Rodgers (138-16, 154), Josh Allen (120-33, 153), Joe Burrow (133-11, 144) and Daunte Culpepper (115-27, 142).
**6.** Zack Baun was named 1st\-team all-pro in 2024 after going into the season with just 14 career starts. Which got me wondering who the last Eagles defensive player was to make all-pro with so few career starts under his belt. The answer is safety Bill Bradley, who was a 1st\-team all-pro in 1971 after starting just one game in 1969 and 1970, his first two NFL seasons. Bradley did play a bit on defense those first two years but his primary role was as the Eagles’ punter. But in 1971 and 1972, his first two years as a starter, he led the NFL with 11 and nine interceptions, and he had 21 INTs in his first 28 career starts, and he was a 1st\-team all-pro both years. On offense, fullback Leonard Weaver was a 1st\-team all-pro in 2009 after starting just 11 games in four seasons with the Seahawks. Weaver only started eight games in 2009, the fewest starts ever by an Eagles position player named all-pro.
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**7A.** Saquon Barkley had 2,005 rushing yards and 13 TDs last year. Only 11 other NFL running backs have had 2,005 rushing yards and 13 TDs over the last _two_ years (Derrick Henry, Kyren Williams, Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs, Jonathan Taylor, James Conner, Josh Jacobs, James Cook, Chuba Hubbard, Najee Harris, Joe Mixon).
**7B.** In his first 20 games as an Eagle, Saquon Barkley had 14 games with 100 rushing yards. Nobody else has had more than five in their first 20 games as an Eagle, and only five players have had more than two (Herschel Walker 5, Ricky Watters 4, Wilbert Montgomery 4, Earnest Jackson 3, Charlie Garner 3).
**8.** The Eagles have had six different Pro Bowl running backs since 1995 – Ricky Watters (1995, 1996), Brian Westbrook (2004, 2007), LeSean McCoy (2011, 2013, 2014), Miles Sanders (2022), D’Andre Swift (2023) and Saquon Barkley (2024). That doesn’t include fullback Leonard Weaver in 2009 or Darren Sproles, who made Pro Bowls in 2014, 2015 and 2016 as a returner. The only team with more Pro Bowl running backs since 1995 is the Ravens, with seven: Jamal Lewis in 2003, Willis McGahee in 2007, Le’Ron McClain in 2008 and 2009, Ray Rice in 2009 , 2011 and 2012, Justin Forsett in 2014, Mark Ingram in 2019 and Derrick Henry in 2024. That doesn’t include fullbacks Vonta Leach in 2011 and 2012, Kyle Juszczyk and Patrick Ricard in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2024, who weren’t full-time runners.
**9.** The lowest-scoring game in Eagles history? On Oct. 1, 1939, the Eagles and Brooklyn Dodgers played to a scoreless tie at Municipal Stadium, the future JFK Stadium. The Eagles had 12 first downs to just one for the Dodgers and outgained Brooklyn 226-38 (including 16 total passing yards). The Eagles had the ball inside the Dodgers’ 30-yard-line four times but lost the ball on downs once, missed a field goal and fumbled twice. Perry Lewis wrote in the next day’s Inquirer: “Cautious football devotees who did not care to risk pneumonia sitting in a cold drizzle at the Municipal Stadium yesterday missed seeing the Philadelphia Eagles do everything but score against the Brooklyn Dodgers. Approximately 2,500 shivering spectators saw the Eagles outplay the visitors in every department of the game but fail to put over a touchdown.” That was one of 68 scoreless ties in NFL history, all played by 1943.
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**10\.** I’m curious which veteran bargain free agent addition has the better chance to contribute as a potential third edge rusher behind Nolan Smith and Jalyx Hunt – Josh Uche or Azeez Ojulari. Do you prefer the guy who had one big year and hasn’t done much his other seasons or the guy who’s oft-injured but a consistent sack producer when he’s healthy? Ojulari had 8.0 sacks as a rookie in 2021, 5 ½ in just seven games in 2022, 2 ½ in seven games in 2023 and then 6.0 in 11 games last year. So that’s almost half a sack per game in his career, although he’s averaged only 11 ½ games per season. Uche had 11 ½ sacks in 15 games in 2022 but only 9.0 sacks in 49 games in parts of four other seasons. Ojulari is only 25 and Uche is 26, so in theory they should be in their prime. The Eagles gave Ojulari a little bit more money on their one-year contracts ($3 million to $1.92 million), which gives you a little hint who the Eagles are counting on. And I do have more faith in the guy who has produced consistently when he’s played but missed a lot of games than the guy who has had three or fewer sacks in four of five seasons and one big season three years ago. Because I think there’s a better chance for Ojulari to stay healthy than Uche to revert to 2022 form. Maybe both will have healthy and productive training camps, and there would certainly be roster spots for both of them if that’s the case. Maybe neither one will pan out. That’s possible too. I think what’s most likely is one of them clearly outplays the other in camp and makes the roster as the third edge. It’ll be a fun battle to watch.
**11.** OK, here’s a bonus baseball observation. In 19 seasons, Bobby Abreu had 288 home runs, 400 stolen bases, a .291 batting average and an .870 OPS (and 136 outfield assists and a Gold Glove). He’s one of only two players with 250 homers, 400 stolen bases and a .290 career average, and he’s one of only two players in the last 100 years with 400 stolen bases and an .870 OPS. Abreu reached base 3,979 times and of the 48 players in history to reach base more, 39 are in the Hall of Fame, two aren’t eligible yet and several of the others have not been voted in for non-baseball reasons (Barry Bonds, Pete Rose, Gary Sheffield, Manny Ramirez, etc.). I never thought of Abreu as a Hall of Famer (and, honestly, I still don’t), but those are Hall of Fame numbers. He’ll never get in. His highest vote percentage was 15 percent in 2023. But should he? Have we been under-rating Abreu all along?