Two-Time All-Pro on A.J. Brown: An 'Animal'
Tennessee Titans wide receiver A.J. Brown caught the attention of many around the NFL with his breakout rookie season.
In 2019, Brown led all rookies with 1,051 receiving yards on 52 catches, tied for the NFL lead with eight receptions of 40 yards or more and became the first rookie of the Super Bowl era to average better than 20 yards per reception in a 1,000-yard season.
Expectations are higher for Brown in 2020, and six-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Chad Johnson is betting on him to shatter them.
On Sunday, Johnson tweeted, “A.J Brown…..that’s the tweet for today because he’s a f****** animal...1,500 yard 2020 season & I’m taking that to Ceasar’s Palace.”
The feat certainly isn’t rare for young wide receivers like Brown. Since 2010, 20 receivers have eclipsed 1,500 yards, and all but three of them did it under the age of 30. In 2019, New Orleans Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas, 26, caught 147 passes for 1,725 yards.
While it’s been a fairly common accomplishment around the league, no receiver in the Titans era (1999-present) has been able to sniff 1,500 yards. Charley Henningan had 1,746 receiving yards in 1961 and 1,546 in 1964 when the Houston Oilers were a part of the American Football League.
Derrick Mason is the only wide receiver to get close. In 2003, Mason had 1,303 yards and in both 2001, and in 2004 he eclipsed 1,100 receiving yards. Delanie Walker had 1,088 receiving yards in 2015 and Kendall Wright had 1,079 in 2013.
The next closest is Brown, of course. And after a memorbale rookie year, the ceiling seems to be higher for the 2019 second round pick out of Ole Miss.
“I think the sky is the limit for me to be honest,” Brown said in May. “I’m a great learner and I’m going to keep learning each and every day. That’s the biggest thing to my game, I’m a huge learner. Definitely a lot of things I can clean up.”
