Titans Vrabel Joins 'Bussin With The Boys' And Talks A.J. Brown Trade

Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel opened up on AJ Brown's trade during a recent appearance on 'Bussin With The Boys' with Taylor Lewan and Will Compton.

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NASHVILLE - As news broke on Sunday that DeAndre Hopkins would sign with the Tennessee Titans, one former NFL executive took the opportunity to take his shot at the organization for trading A.J. Brown and then having to, in his words, overpay for Hopkins.   

On Tuesday, former Titans Taylor Lewan and Will Compton released the latest episode of their podcast 'Bussin With The Boys," where head coach Mike Vrabel was their special guest.

In the episode, the trio talked about their relationship, Vrabel's first season as the Titans head coach, and other issues, including Vrabel sharing details of the Brown trade to Philadelphia before the 2022 NFL Draft.

Lewan began the question about Brown by referencing Vrabel's comment that as long as he was the head coach of the Titans, Brown would be on this team.

"Sure," responded Vrabel to Lewan's recollection. 

"I mean, obviously, as the head coach, you want every player that you think can help you win on the team," said Vrabel. "I certainly had, and still have, a great relationship with A.J."   

"But then sometimes, in the business of professional sports, things go a different direction," added Vrabel. "And that's where they went. I'm happy for A.J., and I'm happy for his family, you know. And we got compensated, and we tried last year."

Compton then asked Vrabel about that night as the situation unfolded in the 'war room.'

"A lot of those conversations go on before, like you're on the clock, so we traded whatever we traded this year, and you kinda have conversations, and that's ah, those don't just happen in the twelve minutes, or ten minutes that you're on the clock< continued Vrabel. "A lot of those times, you've talked about before, and ultimately, once they were on the clock, they made the deal."     

While Vrabel did not come out and say it, the use of the word "they" made the deal, rather than we made the deal speaks volumes about his feelings here. 

Lewan then asked his former coach to take him back to that night and share who called who to begin the trade process.

"I would say that everybody called everybody in this league two weeks leading up to the draft," replied Vrabel. "I promise you, coaches will talk. It starts at the combine, then G.M.s start calling each other, so to say, like, somebody called somebody, I don't ever buy that because they all are talking about, hey, are you willing to move up, do you want to move back, and then you just start trying to figure out where things may go, players or draft picks."

"There are conversations all the way up to the draft, and then it's ultimately if we like the deal, we'll call you when we're on the clock," concluded Vrabel.   

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