Jarvis Brownlee’s jab at the Titans after game-sealing play for the Jets tells you everything you need to know about Tennessee’s confusing trade

Making sense of Mike Borgonzi’s confusing trade

Easton Freeze — Tennessee Titans Beat Writer
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When Tennessee Titans GM Mike Borgonzi traded Jarvis Brownlee — a starting outside cornerback on his roster — after Week 3 of the season, it caught everybody by surprise. Brownlee had all the makings of a draft hit.

He was a Day 3 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft who became a starter before the end of his rookie season. In the first two games of 2025, he led the team in tackles. He wasn’t perfect in coverage, with a reputation for too many penalties, but he was clearly a starter in this league.

The Titans traded him to the New York Jets for a sixth- and seventh-round pick swap anyway. And following a comeback Week 8 win, the now-Jets cornerback took a swipe at his old team that tells you everything you need to know about what happened.

Jarvis Brownlee Jr. ripped the Titans after Week 8

The trade didn’t make sense from a value standpoint, then or now. Head coach Brian Callahan was trotted out at the time to answer for the move that he didn’t make, which wasn’t clarifying in any way. Even Brownlee got to New York and told the media that he was surprised by the news and wasn’t sure why he was traded.

I believe him when he says that. I don’t think the reason for his being traded was performance-based or on a single event. He just wasn’t what Brinker and Borgonzi wanted for their team. He didn’t fit their vision, and his fit was so poor that they were willing to move him at just about any price. That part is crystal clear. And in this case, that’s not a recipe for winning the court of public opinion, whether you were right to move him or not.

Even the most generous read that he absolutely needed to go, and if we were all privy to the intimate details behind the scenes, then we would agree 100%, but that still means that those on the outside will see this as a definitive loss.

And the Titans’ front office decided they could live with that. They’re no fools; they know the value proposition they agreed to. This isn’t a case of a front office having no idea how the trade looks.

Meanwhile in New York, Brownlee is making plays. He broke up the final Bengals pass of the day to Ja’Marr Chase to seal the Jets’ comeback win in Week 8.

The Athletic’s Zach Rosenblatt shared this experience with Brownlee in the locker room afterwards on the “Jets Final Drive” show:

“So the locker room is wrapping up, and Tom Rock and I from Newsday are kind of waiting to talk to Brownlee because he had that last play. He’s the last one in the locker room. Everyone else in the media already left. He’s like taking this time putting on his jewelry and stuff, which is kind of funny. But he asked at one point, he asked ‘what time is it’ and we say ‘it’s like 4:57’ and he’s like ‘oh great, so I still have time to go watch the Titans lose!’”

Is it telling that Brownlee harbors this hate in his heart, however playful, towards his former team? I think so. It also speaks to his ongoing confusion and betrayal surrounding the end of his time in Tennessee. Is it also funny and ironic to see him dunking on his former team, being 1-7 the moment his current team wins their way to 1-7? Absolutely.

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