Was wide receiver AJ Brown bluffing when he (via his agency) presented the Tennessee Titans with unreasonable contract demands?

It's impossible to know for sure. Brown, after all, was traded by the Titans to the Philadelphia Eagles on night one of the 2022 NFL Draft. We have no idea how the Brown/Titans/contract saga would've turned out had Tennessee not pulled the trigger on the deal that sent one of the franchise's best players to Philly.

A new report from ESPN, however, could shed some light on what Brown was hoping to accomplish with his rich contract request.

According to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler, Brown didn't necessarily expect to be traded by Tennessee — at least not until the day of the draft, when the Titans and the Eagles got deep into trade discussions.

"I'm told that Brown largely did not expect to be traded until the day of the draft," wrote Fowler on Monday.

Fowler also noted that Tennessee "held out hope" that they could re-sign Brown until about 18-24 hours before the draft.

The whole situation with Brown basically came down to "who is going to blink first".

And it was the Titans who blinked, though it's hard to blame them.

Brown started making insane demands and he cut off communication with the team.

Now, chances are that he would've played for the Titans in 2022 had the franchise not traded him or extended him. Brown couldn't afford to sit out the whole season on his second-round rookie contract salary — those fines add up quickly.

The Titans, however, decided that Brown wasn't worth the risk. They identified a player they liked the draft, secured the draft capital to get that player (Arkansas wide receiver Treylon Burks), and made a clean break from the suddenly polarizing Brown.

Tennessee could've played hardball. But they decided to not have the Brown drama hanging over the franchise all summer. Time will tell if it was the right move. But even if Brown was bluffing, it's easy to see why the Titans made the decision they made.

Featured image via Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports