A.J. Brown is the quiet star of Titans offense

We all know about the great play of both Derrick Henry and Ryan Tannehill, but wide receiver A.J. Brown is the quiet star of the Tennessee Titans offense.

There are so many reasons the Tennessee Titans have come back to life in the last several weeks to emerge as one of the hottest teams in football. Tennessee has always had a strong defense and we usually see them run the ball effectively, but we’ve gotten an All-Pro year out of running back Derrick Henry and the greatest play of Ryan Tannehill’s career at the quarterback position.

So naturally, Henry, Tannehill and defensive-minded head coach Mike Vrabel have gotten a ton of late during the Titans’ resurgence in the AFC. That being said, we are not giving enough credit to the great play out of rookie wide receiver A.J. Brown of late. He is the quiet star of this Titans offense.

Brown played his college ball in the SEC for the Ole Miss Rebels. Though his college teammate D.K. Metcalf was also a dominant receiver, the Rebels struggled during the pair’s final year in Oxford playing for Matt Luke in 2018. Brown and Metcalf garnered a ton of attention come draft time, but both fell to the second round for various reasons.

Metcalf has come on due to injuries in the Seattle Seahawks offense. With Tannehill playing like the former first-round pick the Miami Dolphins thought they had drafted out of Texas A&M, Brown is too on the fast track to becoming a star in this league. He has been a big key for the team’s turnaround of late.

Brown has played in all 13 games up to this point this season. He has 39 passes for 779 yards and six touchdowns. Though he has never had more than six receptions in an NFL game, Brown has gone over 130 receiving yards in two of the last three games for the Titans.

He had four catches for 135 yards and a touchdown in the Titans’ Week 12 victory over the division-rival Jacksonville Jaguars. Though he was held to three catches for 45 yards in the Titans’ Week 13 win over another division rival in the Indianapolis Colts, Brown would follow that up with the greatest performance of his NFL career to date in Week 14.

On the road vs. the Oakland Raiders, Brown had five catches for 153 yards and two touchdowns. Those stand as career-highs in yardage and touchdown receptions. It is no coincidence that Brown and Tannehill’s rapport has expanded since the Titans’ Week 11 bye.

Brown had only gone over 100 receiving yards before the Titans’ bye week and that was in his NFL debut in Week 1 vs. the Cleveland Browns where he had three catches for 100 yards and a touchdown. With two games left against the division-rival Houston Texans, look for Brown to be a big reason if the Titans do overtake the Texans in the AFC South and win the division title.

For the last several years, the Titans have been a good, but never a great team. They could go 9-7 and fight for an AFC Wild Card spot with Marcus Mariota as their starting quarterback, but they simply lacked dynamism offensively. Tannehill has certainly found that and Brown has been just as key as a reliable vertical threat in the back half of his rookie season for the Titans.

Part of what makes Brown such a secret weapon for the Titans is that he is averaging an impressive 20.0 yards per reception. He may never be a volume guy, but he’s the guy Tannehill looks to when the Titans offense craves explosive plays. Outside of a punishing Henry run, the Titans offense hasn’t been known for explosive plays for some time. Brown is changing that.

Dominating the Raiders in the second-to-last home game in Oakland was impressive, but the Titans’ final three regular-season games this season, home and away with the Texans with a home date with the New Orleans Saints sandwiched in between, they can’t afford a slip-up if they want to punch their ticket into a deep AFC playoffs.

The cool thing about Brown’s game is that he can break one upon from anywhere on the field. Just when you think an opposing team’s defensive backfield has neutralized him on a Sunday afternoon, all it takes is one busted coverage or a well-run route for Brown to scamper to pay dirt.

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He’s a big reason Tannehill can feel comfortable going deep, as he can now see and use the entire field. Though their final three games this regular season are absolutely brutal, it’s not like the Texans and Saints are dying to play the Titans either. Outside of the Baltimore Ravens, Tennessee is the hottest team in football. They have the look of a playoff team, but will they get there?