Considering the player the Titans gave up to acquire the pick that became Treylon Burks, the first-round wide receiver represents not just a long-term investment but one pivotal to Tennessee’s 2022 season. So far, the Titans have not seen too much of Burks.
Tennessee, which traded A.J. Brown to Philadelphia for a package headlined by this year’s No. 18 overall pick, saw its Brown heir apparent miss OTAs time and then miss all of the team’s minicamp. Mike Vrabel did not provide a reason for Burks’ unavailability this week.
Burks was slowed during OTAs and later missed practice time due to asthma. While Titans wide receivers coach Rob Moore praised Burks’ progression in their offensive system, via The Tennessean’s Ben Arthur, his unspecified minicamp absence does provide a bit of an early concern.
Earlier this offseason, SI.com’s Albert Breer noted weight issues have followed Burks for a bit. Listed at 225 pounds, Burks, according to some teams ahead of the draft, played in the 240s at points during his Arkansas career and was over 230 during some of his pre-draft workouts. While the big-bodied target obviously played well enough to warrant a top-20 selection, nearly hitting 1,000 yards in 2020’s COVID 19-shortened season and surpassing 1,100 as a junior in 2021, the SEC standout does enter the NFL with some uncertainty.
The Jon Robinson-era Titans have not shied away from first-rounders with potential red flags. They hit on 2019 first-rounder Jeffery Simmons, who was coming off an offseason ACL tear ahead of his rookie season. Simmons has become one of the NFL’s top interior defensive linemen. But the team missed badly on 2020 first-rounder Isaiah Wilson, who was off the Titans’ roster by 2021 after a three-snap rookie season. Caleb Farley missed Tennessee’s offseason program and some of training camp last year, due to the two back surgeries he had undergone. Farley, who suffered a torn ACL during his freshman year at Virginia Tech, went down due to another ACL tear three games into his rookie season.
Tennessee cut Julio Jones after what turned out to be a misfire — one that cost the team a second-round pick. Recent trade acquisition Robert Woods, obtained for just a 2023 sixth-round pick, is coming off a torn ACL he sustained in November. The Titans do not have much in the way of notable investments at receiver behind Burks and Woods, though former UDFA Nick Westbrook-Ikhine showed some promise last season. This amplifies the importance of their Woods-Burks duo producing. Training camp will be a key step for both.
I’m intrigued by Burks’ potential and hope he reaches it, but it’s hard to think of a ton of really successful wide receivers who’ve had notable weight concerns. Alshon Jeffery comes to mind. This team could have some rough sledding without AJ.
Should’ve paid Brown.
I liked him with the Titans but the Eagles overpaid him. And as he gets older, his injury history as a young player, will be a legitimate concern.
I mean he is about to be 25, the deal he signed puts him to what 29-30? Those are all prime years they are paying for.
I never saw the titans as a threat to anything in the last few years but I really think not keeping Brown will be a big mistake.
Never thought about this before…but allergies vary from region to region.
I wonder if/how team’s account for drafting players from one region and moving them to another (eg. a player with pollen allergies moving from a low pollen area to a high one) and how it could affect their performance.
I’ve been hearing a lot about vaccine damage. It’s a real thing. Six pages of single-spaced side effects…yet no one in the MSM even remotely considers this as a potential reason he may be having problems.
The Titans should send him to Dr. Alex Jones for a second opinion, you say?
I heard a lot about the damage caused by Co-vid when you weren’t vaccinated
Well vax injuries to young men were documented by Pfizer……so Alex Jones has nothing to do with it. Also people can have long term affects from COVID itself.
But none of that has anything to do with it. Jon Robinson just likes to gamble like a mad man. Would love to hear some reports from other team’s scouts about any red flags Burks might have shown. I’ve heard him speak though, and I’m pulling for this guy. He seems like a class team player who could thrive in Tennessee.