How the Tennessee Titans have failed to recover from the AJ Brown trade
By Andy Davies
The 2022 NFL Draft has seen multiple Pro Bowlers and Super Bowl champions, well recognised names such as Garrett Wilson, Aiden Hutchinson and Sauce Gardner.
However, no moment in the 2022 NFL Draft caused more of a shock than the Tennessee Titas trading wide receiver A.J Brown to the Philadelphia Eagles.
In exchange for Brown, the Titans received the 18th overall pick and the Eagles’ 101st overall pick.
Four years on and the Eagles have reached two Super Bowls, winning one. Meanwhile, the Titans have never had a winning season with a combined 19-49 record as opposed to the Philly’s four double digit win seasons and a 50-18 record.
In one of the most lobsided trades in recent NFL history, this was a trade that set the Titans back multiple years.
Treylon Burks’ struggles in Nashville
When the Titans received the 18th overall pick as a result of the trade with the Eagles, they took wide receiver Treylon Burks as Brown’s replacement.
The pick was made so quickly after the trade news came out, that many Titans fans in attendance at the Draft thought they had drafted him to be the WR2 next to Brown.
Even those that knew the news, they would have had a lot of excitement about the pick given his college tape and comparisons by Daniel Jeremiah and many others to Brown.
At Arkansas, Burks recorded 1,104 receiving yards and 12 total touchdowns in his final season. However, he has just two rushing touchdowns to his name in four seasons, one of these away from the Titans.
444 receiving yards and one touchdown in his 2022 rookie season stands as his best year as a pro. Meanwhile, in the time that has passed since the trade, Brown has recorded 5,034 receiving yards and 32 receiving touchdowns.
He has had six games in those four years that have followed, where he has had the same number of touchdowns in a game than Burks has had his entire career.
One of those games back in 2022 against the Pittsburgh Steelers saw him record three receiving touchdowns. When the guy you traded away has recorded more touchdowns in one game than the guy you replaced him with has their entire NFL career, you have definitely lost the trade.
Burks’ best moment in his career was not even in a Titans jersey, his spectacular catch for the Washington Commanders against the Denver Broncos in 2025 one of the moments of the season.
The buck does not just stop with Burks. Titans have not had any receiver replicate even half of what Brown did, despite bringing in Julio Jones and Deandre Hopkins during this time.
The dominoes that fell post-AJ Brown trade
Seconds after the NFL Draft coverage broke the news of the AJ Brown trade back in 2022, the cameras panned to the Titans draft room.
The reaction from Titans head coach Mike Vrabel was very visible. You could see him shaking his head and walking out of the draft room. There are many reasons why this could have been, but you cannot help thinking this was because of his anger at the trade being dealt.
This was not some team in rebuild. In that most recent 2021 season, the Titans secured the number one seed in the AFC.
Whilst there have been better quality rosters in NFL history to achieve this feat, this is still an indication to the players they had at their disposal.
The talent at the Titans at the time did not stop at Brown. Running back Derrick Henry had just come off a season that could have seen him win MVP if not for injury, and he has been a wrecking ball ever since. Ryan Tannehill had his issues, but has been better than what the team has had after him.
Their defense also featured Harold Landry, Kevin Byard, Jeffery Simmons and Zach Cunningham, led by a brilliant defensive mind in Vrabel. This was not a roster that was in need of rebuild, there was still space open in their Super Bowl window. The trading of Brown, brought an end to this.
Their aforementioned record since trading Brown is clear evidence of this. Vrabel was relieve of his duties after the conclusion of the 2024 season, Henry moved to the Baltimore Ravens that same offseason and man who replaced Vrabel has been also fired since.
Brown, continues to be a figure of trade speculation this offseason. A reunion with Vrabel at the New England Patriots, who reached Super Bowl LX last season, appears all but likely. They have both either reached or won a Super Bowl since leaving Tennessee, who have finished fourth in the AFC South in all of the past three seasons. The evidence is there to suggest that this was a trade back in 2022 that the team has never recovered from.
ANDY DAVIES
NFL ANALYST
ANDY IS A SPORTS JOURNALISM GRADUATE WITH OVER SIX YEARS EXPERIENCE OF NFL WRITING AND PODCASTING. ANDY HAS BEEN TO EVERY NFL STADIUM AND IS THE HOST OF THE ACROSS THE POD PODCAST. HE HAS PRESS PASS EXPERIENCE AT THE LONDON GAMES AND MANY OTHER NFL BASED EVENTS SUCH AS SUPER BOWL LIX AND LX, HAVING INTERVIEWED THE LIKES OF AARON RODGERS, JUSTIN JEFFERSON, JASON BELL, OSI UMENYIORA, PATRICK MAHOMES, TRAVIS KELCE, DERRICK HENRY, SAQUON BARKLEY AND JALEN HURTS