Following a disappointing loss to the Minnesota Vikings, the Philadelphia Eagles released one of their veterans. Zach Brown was let go by the team on Monday, and it’s believed several things factored into that release. One of those was his critique of former teammate Kirk Cousins, who ended up playing incredibly well following Brown’s trash talk.
Brown trash talks Cousins before game
Zach Brown gave Cousins and the Vikings plenty of incentive to outperform the Eagles this past weekend. He made critical comments about Cousins, whom he played with on the Washington Redskins in the 2017 NFL season.
His trash talk basically said that NFL defenses will want to see Cousins with the ball in his hands because it’s believed he’s a liability in terms of his passing skills.
Here is Zach Brown and his comments about Kirk Cousins. If this doesn’t bring out the “You Like That” Kirk… then nothing will. #Vikings pic.twitter.com/33BH1JbbVE
— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) October 11, 2019
Here are the full comments from Brown via ESPN:
I think every defense is going to want that guy to throw the ball. For me, that’s probably the weakest part of their offense is him. Everything else is good. They’ve got a good running game, probably one of the best in the league. They have real good receivers. You just want them to pass the ball. You want Kirk Cousins to get it in his hands.
Those comments went on to fire up Cousins en route to an impressive bounce-back performance after a few weeks of slumping this season.
He completed 22-of-29 passes for 333 yards and four touchdowns, leading the Vikings to a 38-20 win. That also kept Minnesota (4-2) near the top of the NFC North just behind the 5-1 Green Bay Packers.
Brown’s performance also a factor, other teams’ interest
Brown had one solo tackle and five total in the loss. He received questions post-game about his previous comments regarding Cousins. He brushed them off at first saying, “I’m here to talk about the game. Not about that.”
After other questions regarding the Vikings’ quarterback, Brown replied, “Any other questions besides about Kirk Cousins?” He would finally praise Cousins saying, “He did a good job. He played good. Hats off to him.”
A day later, the team has released the veteran linebacker, who has a career 661 combined tackles including 461 solo tackles. He’s also achieved 17.5 sacks and seven interceptions including two returned for touchdowns, per Pro-Football Reference.
ESPN mentions that Zach Brown’s play this season for the Eagles is also partly responsible for his release. However, other NFL teams are expected to be interested in his services. It would be extremely surprising if the Vikings are among them.
Eagles are releasing LB Zach Brown, per source. Multiple teams expected to be interested.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 14, 2019
Potential landing spots may include the Tennessee Titans, Kansas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiders, or New York Giants, per CBS Sports.