Former Tennessee Titans and current Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown recently dished on new details about the process of his trade from Nashville, and how he was able to help out his new team against his old one.
Brown was a guest on the “Raw Room” (H/T Nick Suss of the Tennessean), hosted by former Titans linebacker Daren Bates, former Atlanta Falcons defensive back, Jalen Collins, and Alex Sweet, and revealed that head coach Mike Vrabel insisted he would not be traded.
“We aren’t trading you but I would tell you just from my personal experience as a player and as a coach that you need to prepare to have patience,” Vrabel said in a text message Brown read out loud. “Just keep doing everything you can do to prepare on the other stuff and it will take care of itself. I promise you. Let’s visit again tomorrow.”
The pair did indeed meet the next day, where Vrabel reiterated to Brown his public stance that, “as long as I’m the head coach, you ain’t going nowhere.”
Brown and Vrabel appear to have had a good line of communication at the start of the process, but at the advice of his agent, the wideout cut off all communication with the team once it was clear general manager Jon Robinson wouldn’t budge off his offer.
That offer was $16 million per year with incentives that could bring it up to $20 million, an offer Brown rightly thought was disrespectful. Not only did J-Rob not budge, he didn’t talk to Brown throughout the entire process.
Brown also went on to say that he doesn’t believe the trade was solely responsible for Robinson’s demise, which I think is accurate; although it’s safe to say his crushing the Titans at least helped speed up the process.
“I never talked to J-Rob,” he revealed. “People are saying ‘you got the GM fired.’ Listen, I don’t know why he got fired. He got himself fired. I think it was a couple decisions before that too. A couple players before that. A couple misses in the draft.”
Brown recalls telling his agent, Tory Dandy, that he wanted to stay in Tennessee, even as Robinson wouldn’t move off his offer.
Then, one day before the draft, Dandy came to him and said not only were the Titans willing to trade him to the Eagles, but Philly was willing to give him $25 million per year in a new deal. Philly initially offered $22 million before bumping it up.
“I say ‘Bro, I want to be in Tennessee,’” Brown said. “He’s like ‘Bro, A.J., Tennessee’s not budging. They’re not moving. You told me to do a job. I did the job. It’s in front of you. You’d be a fool not to take this.’ I say ‘[expletive] it. Let’s do this.’
“I get off the phone and I’m crying my eyes out,” he added. “I’m hurt. I’m hurt. And there’s a part of what I just accomplished ain’t even set in. I’m more hurt than anything.”
To no one’s surprise, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts was involved in at least getting the ball rolling on the trade. Hurts first brought it up to Brown at his daughter’s birthday party. Brown thought it was a joke before finding out Hurts was actually serious after talking to his own general manager.
Brown said he would’ve signed with Tennessee for $22 million annually, and the idea that he wanted to leave the Titans is simply false.
He stated that he would’ve wanted to stay even if the team was terrible and even had a long-term plan for his future contracts, with his intent being to sign a three-year deal worth big money, then a two-year deal as the team’s No. 2 receiver as he began the down side of his career. That’s certainly a reasonable roadmap.
Speaking of the aforementioned Titans-Eagles matchup, Brown said he was able to fill his new team in on everything his old team was doing on offense because Tennessee doesn’t change things up from year to year.
His only concern? Not getting his former quarterback, Ryan Tannehill, injured.
“I gave every detail,” Brown explained. “I gave every detail. I gave it all. I gave it all. They don’t change nothing. They don’t change nothing. I talked to one of the defensive guys and they say ‘What does this mean? What does this mean?’ I say ‘Just give me the game film, I’ll tell you what all this means.’”
“The whole time watching the game I’m like ‘Just don’t hurt my dawg Ryan [Tannehill],’” Brown added.
You can check out the entire segment of Brown talking about the trade from the Titans right here (warning: NSFW language). It’s worth a listen all the way through.
