injured but eager to begin another climb wide receiver AJ Brown arrived at the Florida Atlantic University training facility in boka Raton Florida in late January about 3 weeks after the Eagles 2023 campaign had ended in collapse Brown was sidelined for the final blow a 329 throttling at the hands of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the wildcard round of the playoffs the week before in the regular season finale against the New York Giants he was forced out of the game after being targeted on a short pass over the middle in the first quarter and falling awkwardly tests revealed he suffered a grade 2 MCL sprain in his right knee an injury that cemented that both his team and personal goals would not be met he was pissed off about not being able to play in that playoff game and not finishing the season out with his teammates said Browns longtime trainer and head strength and conditioning coach at FAU Joey gasio who noted Brown came down to train even earlier than usual he wanted to hit the ground running he said I want to be in the best shape of my life Brown believes he has since met that goal the photo he posted on social media in May suggests he might be right I think I am in the best shape of my life Brown said during mini camp earlier this month I always ask myself at the end of the season can I work harder what else can I do those are the questions I ask myself and the answer is always yes first things first they had to get the knee Right guio Said Brown was about 75 80% healthy upon arrival and that there was some stability stuff that needed to be worked on they focused on building up strength in and around that right knee and gradually Advanced his change of Direction progressions we didn't rush him knowing that we had time guaso said before you knew it probably two to three weeks in he wasn't even thinking about his knee it was an afterthought with the injury behind him the training ramped up there were no major overhauls to the workout routine after all brown eclipsed 1,400 receiving yards for the second straight season in 23 and was one of the most dominant players in football he actually got faster in year five of his NFL career topping out at speeds north of 23 mph thanks partly to a regiment that includes acceleration drills Leed pulls and chain pulls he hit those numbers once again this off seon the biggest change this time around was related to diet he did a really good job this year of honing into the nutritional side of it his dietitian did a great job with him and he really bought into it guio said we saw a huge drop in his body fat percentage we saw like a 2% drop in just a few weeks because he was so dialed in nutritionally he was so disciplined on the weekends our running joke is he stays away from cake and chips those are like his vices the end result was a leaner cutup Brown who weighed in around 225 PBS while boasting a body fat percentage in the mid SS gasio said Brown's vertical jump reached 28.5 Ines during training this off season two inches higher than what he recorded at the scouting combine in 2019 even though he's five years older and weighs more than he did coming out of ol Miss Brown Now 26 saw his offseason workpay dividends on the field this spring according to coach Nick serani Brown had the most catches and the highest catch rate on the team through the organized team activities AJ became a captain for us last year because he has a great work ethic and he knows how to lead serani said he just works his butt off he wants to be great he has his sights on being great he's been great and he wants to continue to do it year after year and this year added receiver Devana Smith he's the same guy a guy that comes in he's going to work he's going to demand everybody to work and play to the standard he's working at Brown set a franchise record with 106 catches last season he became the first player in NFL history to post six consecutive games of 125 plus receiving yards breaking a mark previously held by first ballot Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson Brown made his third Pro B and was named second team allpro and he still fell short of his goals he wants to be the best offensive player in the league gasio said he wanted that first team All Pro he wanted all the accolades that come along with that he wanted to win a Super Bowl that was the biggest thing but we didn't get to realize any of those even though he had a great year nearly 1,500 yards in back-to-back years that six-game stretch where he was over one 25 yards per game in his mind he feels like a failure which is why you love him and why he is who he is because he is such a competitor he's never satisfied