How Mike Vrabel is the biggest loser of the Titans' AJ Brown trade
The Tennessee Titans shocked nearly everyone in the NFL on Thursday night by trading star wide receiver AJ Brown to the Philadelphia Eagles for draft picks. Tennessee general manager Jon Robinson told reporters after the draft that the team decided to trade Brown after it became apparent the two sides weren't going to agree to […]
The Tennessee Titans shocked nearly everyone in the NFL on Thursday night by trading star wide receiver AJ Brown to the Philadelphia Eagles for draft picks.
Tennessee general manager Jon Robinson told reporters after the draft that the team decided to trade Brown after it became apparent the two sides weren't going to agree to terms on a contract extension.
Brown received a four-year extension worth $100 million from the Eagles after the trade was completed.
The Titans basically weren't willing to pay Brown his market value (you're worth what someone will pay you).
Mike Vrabel is the biggest loser of the AJ Brown trade
No one looks worse in this trade than Titans head coach Mike Vrabel.
A couple of weeks ago, Vrabel uttered a few words that will haunt him for the rest of his career.
When Vrabel was asked by NFL Network's Rich Eisen about the trade rumors surrounding Brown, he said the star wide receiver wouldn't be traded as long as he was the head coach.
That obviously proved to be false.
It was an unwise statement for a head coach to make. Vrabel, of course, isn't the general manager. While we know that Jon Robinson and the front office discuss personnel issues with Vrabel, and get his input, the final decision isn't the head coach's to make.
Vrabel comes out of this looking disconnected. It also looks like he purposefully misled fans and media. Vrabel had to have an idea of how this was going to go. Brown wanted to get paid and everyone knew that.
And it's not like it took a football savant to know what kind of money Brown was going to get. Numerous projections had Brown's market value at around $24 million a year (which is what Stefon Diggs received from the Buffalo Bills).
The fact that Tennessee wasn't willing to pay Brown that amount of cash is fine. If they felt that was too much to pay for a wide receiver who has only played one full season and never topped 1,100 receiving yards, then I get it.
But the Titans knew several weeks ago how far they were willing to go in these negotiations. And if they knew they weren't prepared to go to $24 or $25 million a year, then Vrabel should've never made that comment. It comes off as arrogant. It's like Vrabel was saying that Tennessee wasn't trading Brown and the wide receiver would get whatever the Titans offered him.
Vrabel is one of the best coaches in the NFL. He gets a lot out of his guys and players love him. But this was one of the biggest missteps of his career. And it's a soundbite that he'll likely regret until the day he's no longer roaming the sidelines.
Featured image via USA TODAY Sports
