Tennessee Titans AJ Brown will be the NFL’s next elite receiver

Offensive Scheme

Now that Brown has a rookie year impressive as his 2019 campaign was under his belt, he won’t have the benefit of flying under the radar against opposing defenses.

But for as good as Brown has been, the increased attention might not make much of a difference with how the Tennessee offense is structured. Because for as good as Brown is, defenses will still be forced to sell out to slow down the run when facing the Titans.

If the Titans do re-sign Derrick Henry (which in this humble writer’s opinion, they should), teams can expect Tennessee to stick closely to the run-heavy game plan that got them to an AFC Championship. But even if they don’t bring Henry back, it’s hard to imagine Arthur Smith adapting to an air-raid style offense overnight.

Despite a tremendous workload being expected for whoever the Titans starting running back is in 2020 meaning a de-emphasized passing game, this is great for Brown. He may never be a heavy volume pass-catcher with Tennessee, but the focus defenses will place on slowing down the run helped get Brown open down the field in 2019, leading to his inflated yards per catch numbers.

Brown especially shined in the play-action passing game, where the rookie receiver would repeatedly take advantage of weak coverage. But while scheme helped Brown put up big numbers in 2019, none of what Arthur Smith was doing from the sidelines mattered more than the skill AJ Brown brought to the field.