The Eagles host the Dolphins on "Sunday Night Football" in a potential Super Bowl preview, which includes the first matchup between former Alabama teammates Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts. The subplot might be just as juicy. Two of the league's best playmakers, Tyreek Hill and A.J. Brown, will try to steal the spotlight.
Both players were traded last offseason when acquiring a No. 1 wideout was all the rage. Think about the stud wide receivers dealt in recent years: Stefon Diggs, Davante Adams, Tyreek Hill, A.J. Brown and recently, D.J. Moore. Most have worked out beautifully, unless you are the Bears who essentially traded a first-round pick for Chase Claypool and gave him away for a late-round pick swap.
Hill and Brown haven't come cheap, but they have been worth every penny. The Dolphins acquired Hill last March with a haul of picks (a first, second, two fourths, and a sixth-round pick) and made him the highest-paid WR in the NFL at $30 million per year.
The Eagles stunned us on draft night in 2022 by trading a first- and third-round pick to reunite A.J. Brown with best friend Jalen Hurts. Philadelphia gave Brown a four-year deal worth $100 million, making him the fourth-highest paid wideout in the league this year ($25 million per year).
Both players were surprisingly dealt after they weren't close to terms on extensions with their previous teams, the Chiefs and Titans, respectively. One team has been able to move on a little better than the other.
Those deals have paid handsomely for both the Dolphins and Eagles, though, as they now have the two hottest receivers in the NFL. Hill (814 yards) and Brown (672 yards) rank 1-2 in the NFL in receiving this season, with both on historic tears.
Hill has the second-most receiving yards through six games in NFL history, behind Don Hutson (819) in 1942. He's on pace for 2,306 yards this season, which would obliterate Calvin Johnson's NFL record (1,964 receiving yards in 2012).
Brown is chasing Megatron with another potential feat. He enters Week 7 with four straight games of 125-plus receiving yards, the longest streak in Eagles history, and one shy of matching Johnson for the longest single-season streak since 1970.
Both Hill and Brown have played 23 games for their new teams, stretches that are nothing short of historic, too. Hill has the most receiving yards by any player in his first 23 games with a team in NFL history (2,524). Brown's 23 games with the Eagles ranks third on this list (2,168) behind Odell Beckham Jr.'s start with the Giants (2,310).
These video game numbers have been so far from hollow. The Dolphins and Eagles were both seemingly in league and quarterback purgatory coming off 9-8 seasons without a postseason win in 2021. Philadelphia was only a year removed from trotting out wide receiver groups like Travis Fulgham, Greg Ward and JJ Arcega-Whiteside. Now both teams are Super Bowl contenders.
They are far from the only wise move made by each team lately, but they are the most impactful. Credit GM Chris Grier and Miami for hiring Mike McDaniel, and for the Trey Lance draft trade that gave them three first-round picks, which they turned into Hill, Jaylen Waddle and Bradley Chubb. Miami also signed Terron Armstead to solidify one of the NFL's worst offensive lines. Credit GM Howie Roseman and Philadelphia for an unbelievable offseason in 2022 that brought in Brown, Haason Reddick, C.J. Gardner-Johnson and James Bradberry, among others. Both teams also made a draft-day trade with each other in 2021 to bring Waddle to Miami and DeVonta Smith to Philadelphia.
The Hill and Brown trades may have put each team over the top. Think about how they altered the trajectory of Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts' careers. Both entered 2022 with their QB1 credentials in question. Hurts ranked 19th in EPA per play in his first two seasons, while Tagovailoa was 28th out of 32 QBs with at least 500 pass attempts. They were performing like average QBs or worse. Tua's arm strength was sharply criticized and Hurts' was viewed as one-dimensional at times.
Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts NFL ranks (from 2020-21)
| Tagovailoa | Hurts | |
|---|---|---|
EPA per play | 28th | 19th |
Yards per attempt | 28th | 21st |
TD-Int ratio | 23rd | 24th |
Both rank top five in the NFL in EPA per play since the trades. Tua has been a midseason MVP frontrunner for two straight years and is now the signal-caller for perhaps one of the most explosive offenses in NFL history. Hurts cashed in with a historic deal this offseason after he was an injury and perhaps a play away from both an NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP last year.
Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts NFL ranks (from 2022-23)
| Tagovailoa | Hurts | |
|---|---|---|
EPA per play | 1st | 4th |
Yards per attempt | 1st | 3rd |
TD-Int ratio | 3rd | 11th |
It'd been foolish to only use those trades as the reasons for the two biggest QB leaps in the last two years. The Dolphins and Eagles have made ample moves and created dynamic schemes to unlock the strengths of two supremely talented QBs, who have also improved in their own right.
Hill and Brown have certainly been important catalysts for helping each QB go from average starter to superstar, though. Each player has helped their QB attack the next level of the defense which they hadn't previously. Tua threw three touchdown passes of 20-plus air yards in his first two seasons, 29th in the NFL. He has the third most in the last two seasons (11) as Tua and Tyreek have formed the best deep-ball connection in the league. A look at the heat map of Tagovailoa's touchdown passes in his career (2020-21 on the left and 2022-23 on the right) illustrates this night-and-day difference.
Tua Tagovailoa career touchdown pass locations (2020-21 on left and 2022-23 on right)
Hurts' wasn't lighting the world on fire either. He was 24th in the NFL with four touchdown passes of 20-plus air yards in his first two seasons. He leads the NFL with 15 since, with a majority to Brown.
Jalen Hurts career touchdown pass locations (2020-21 on left and 2022-23 on right)
The beauty is in how they are burning defenses differently, too. Hill is the fastest player in the league and is always taking the cover off the defense. Brown's size and athleticism has him seemingly hooking up with Hurts on a deep ball down the sidelines in every game, as he perfectly high points the ball.
It should come as no surprise then that no duos have hooked up on more deep touchdowns (20-plus air yards) than Tua and Tyreek (nine) and Hurts and Brown (eight) over the last two years. And even when they aren't making plays, just the deep threat opens up so many opportunities for the rest of the offense.
The implications of these A+ trades range far beyond the fireworks we'll see on Sunday. We're talking superstar QBs and Super Bowl contenders in a copycat league that would love to follow the same formula.
They couldn't have worked out better for either team and could be a prime reason either is the next to raise the Lombardi Trophy.
