According to a new report, we are getting a very different picture than what former Tennessee wide receiver A.J. Brown painted in the wake of his being traded to the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday night.
Per Sports Illustrated’s John Glennon, Brown actually wanted out of Tennessee and had stopped communicating with the team weeks ago.
Adding to that, Brown was apparently looking for more than the $25 million per year he ended up getting from the Eagles, and his reps might have been asking for $80 million guaranteed, which is $23 million less than what he received from Philly in his four-year, $100 million deal.
In fact, the term "$80 million guaranteed" was apparently thrown around by Brown's reps, who said he would "not be touching the grass" during the offseason until a new deal was done.
— John Glennon (@glennonsports) April 29, 2022
This runs completely counter to what Brown told ESPN’s Turron Davenport.
The Ole Miss product said the Titans’ offer was “very low” and was worth $16 million per year, with incentives making it possible for the deal to reach $20 million per. Brown also said he wanted to stay in Nashville.
“This wasn’t my fault,” Brown said of the trade. “I wanted to stay, but the deal they offered was a low offer. The deal they offered wasn’t even $20 million a year.”
“I would have stayed if they offered me $22 million,” Brown continued.
Davenport has since corroborated part of Glennon’s report, while also noting the exploding wide receiver market hurt negotiations and once the two sides realized they couldn’t bridge the gap, a trade was demanded.
2/2 Obviously that was beyond the # the #Titans set. It's also my understanding that when it was clear the two parties couldn't close the gap a trade was demanded. From what I understand, intitial negotiations went well but took a turn for the worse when the WR market exploded.
— TURRON DAVENPORT (@TDavenport_NFL) April 29, 2022
These new details will no doubt take the heat off Tennessee’s brass, which has been getting slammed since the deal went down.
