Tennessee Titans: A.J. Brown returns to limited practice on Sunday
Tennessee Titans second-round pick A.J. Brown has finally returned to practice, albeit a limited one.
In what has been an injury-plagued Tennessee Titans 2019 NFL Draft class of late, rookie wide receiver A.J. Brown is making progress after he returned to practice and took part in a limited fashion on Sunday.
Jim Wyatt of Titans Online posted a video of Brown hitting the field with a helmet on prior to the start of practice on Day 12. He was one of the first ones out there.
Look who is headed out to @Titans practice in a helmet: It’s @Brown1arthur. pic.twitter.com/LrGpyNJbxt
— Jim Wyatt (@jwyattsports) August 11, 2019
ESPN’s Turron Davenport confirmed Brown was back.
So far for #Titans no sign of Derrick Henry, Delanie Walker, Nate Davis, David Fluellen or Tanner McEvoy at practice today. A. J. Brown IS back.
— TURRON DAVENPORT (@TDavenport_NFL) August 11, 2019
While Brown did return to practice, it appears the Titans only had him do limited work. It’s still more than we’ve seen him do since initially suffering his injury.
Corey Davis and A. J. Brown are working on a separate field as well. Doing a lot of start and stop drills with GM Jon Robinson watching closely. #Titans
— TURRON DAVENPORT (@TDavenport_NFL) August 11, 2019
AJ Brown headed off field now. Looks like he’s done enough today as he progresses in rehab work.
— John Glennon (@glennonsports) August 11, 2019
Brown slipped on Day 1 of training camp and was forced to leave early. Since then, we’ve only seen Brown doing light work and not participating fully in practice.
Brown also got some first-team reps in a team walk-through.
AJ Brown getting some early walk-through reps with first-team offense
— John Glennon (@glennonsports) August 11, 2019
Less than a week ago, Brown said he was close to a return.
This is great news for Brown and the Titans. Any rookie who misses a significant amount of time in practice before the start of the season risks losing out in positional battles with their teammates.
While we’d assume Brown is still the favorite for the No. 3 receiver role behind wideouts Corey Davis and Adam Humphries, there was a chance that his missing more time could result in either Tajae Sharpe or Taywan Taylor taking that spot, thus burying Brown on the depth chart.
As long as he can show he’s back and healthy, and not make any huge mistakes the rest of the way, Brown should have no issue nabbing the No. 3 receiver role. He’s expected to line up on the outside, across from Davis.
Now it’ll be interesting to see if Brown actually gets some game action in the team’s second preseason matchup on Saturday, August 17th, against the New England Patriots in Nashville.
With all the time he has missed, it feels like Brown is a lock to do so. That is, as long as he doesn’t have anymore injury hiccups and can stay on the field from now until then.
Fingers crossed.