"I would be very surprised if I saw anything more in the newspapers about it," said Vincent, who has talked to Brown about his situation. "When I saw it last year with Lito [Sheppard] at this time and as it moved forward, it never surprised me. Because you could see by the tone and by the comments that there was more coming. That it wasn't going to end. That it was going to go through the entire season. That it would be part of the locker room. I don't see that this time."
Brown hadn't intended to take his contract differences with the Eagles public. He preferred to have his agent fight that battle behind closed doors. But when club president Joe Banner suggested in a radio interview that Brown had never indicated any dissatisfaction with his contract, his pent-up frustration went off like a geyser.
He complained that the Eagles always had treated him "like the redheaded stepchild" and said he wanted to be traded. Banner uncharacteristically fired back, suggesting that Brown's comments were "unfortunate and counterproductive" and had only served to devalue him if the team was interested in trading the 30-year-old cornerback, which he said it wasn't. Less than a week later, the Eagles sent two fifth-round picks to the Patriots for veteran corner Ellis Hobbs.
Vincent knows all about the cold, hard business of football. He was a 31-year-old Pro Bowler in 2002 when the Eagles drafted Brown and Sheppard to replace him and the team's other Pro Bowl corner at the time, Bobby Taylor.
He could have been resentful, but he wasn't. Instead of giving Brown and Sheppard the cold shoulder, he took them under his wing. Taught them how to play the game. Taught them how to carry themselves, on and off the field. And when the Eagles ultimately showed him the door two seasons later, he hugged his two pupils and wished them nothing but the best.
