Despite rampant speculation, a recent report stated that the Tennessee Titans have no intention of trading wide receiver A.J. Brown, who is entering the final year of his rookie deal in 2022.
Instead, as general manager Jon Robinson stated last month, the team is looking to keep Brown for the long haul and will continue to work on a contract extension with the former second-round pick.
During an appearance on the Rich Eisen Show on Thursday, head coach Mike Vrabel made it quite clear that Brown won’t be traded “as long as I’m the head coach.”
“Not as long as I’m the head coach,” Vrabel said. “I love A.J. professionally, personally. I’ve gotten to know him well as his coach and enjoy seeing him as much as I possibly can. I saw him here, working out here earlier… as long as I’m the coach here I would want to have A.J. Brown on my football team.”
The idea of trading Brown has gotten far more play than it ever deserved. It would make zero sense for Tennessee to trade arguably its best playmaker and one of the best receivers in the NFL when healthy.
The 24-year-old is far too talented and important to Tennessee’s offense for the team to give up on trying to extend him at any point before the 2023 offseason when he hits the open market.
If Brown does somehow fly the coop down the road (we fully expect him to be signed to an extension at some point), it’ll be via free agency next year, and not a trade this year.
