Former Tennessee Titans wide receiver A.J. Brown tweeted, then deleted, a farewell to Titans fans following his trade to the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday night.
“Tennessee I love you and you will forever be in my heart and I can say this now… THIS WAS NOT MY FAULT. But I wish you all the best. Love,” Brown said in a tweet on Thursday that was deleted.
PHILADELPHIA — The Eagles shook up the first round of the NFL draft Thursday with a blockbuster trade, acquiring star receiver A.J. Brown from the Tennessee Titans for the 18th and 101st overall picks.
Brown, who had been seeking a new deal, has agreed to a four-year, $100 million contract with the Eagles that includes $57 million guaranteed, sources told ESPN’s Kimberley Martin.
The 24-year-old Brown was entering the final year of his rookie deal with the Titans and was scheduled to make a base salary of just under $4 million in 2022.
Titans coach Mike Vrabel told the “Rich Eisen Show” earlier this month that Brown would not be on the trade block.
“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.”
The Brown acquisition was the Eagles’ second trade of the night. Minutes earlier, they moved up to the 13th pick to select Georgia defensive tackle Jordan Davis, the 6-foot-6, 340-pound anchor of the Bulldogs’ championship defense.
“As long as I’m the coach here, I’d love to have A.J. Brown on my football team,” Vrabel said later in the interview.
That tone changed on Thursday, as Vrabel indicated that money was a factor in considering a trade of Brown.
“This is just another example of making tough decisions that hopefully in the long run is going to make our team better,” Vrabel said Thursday in a news conference following the first round. “I know it probably doesn’t get received by that publicly, but this was a difficult process to get through and I know what the gap we had to bridge was. This wasn’t easy.”
