Two Big Names Hope Good Health Now Pays Off Later

Wide receiver A.J. Brown and outside linebacker Bud Dupree don't have to spend the early part of this offseason recovering from surgery.

NASHVILLE – A pair of the Tennessee Titans’ most important players are hoping more productive offseasons will lead to more production in the 2022 season.

Wide receiver A.J. Brown and outside linebacker Bud Dupree were limited last offseason by medical procedures. Brown had minor surgeries to both knees following the 2020 season, while Dupree had surgery to repair the torn ACL he suffered in December of 2020.

Brown recovered enough – and from an ankle injury – that he was ready for the start of training camp last season. But the season was somewhat frustrating, in large part because nagging injuries forced him to miss four full games and parts of others.

Brown’s totals in 2021 dipped to 63 catches for 869 yards (13.8-yard average) and five touchdowns after he had 70 catches for 1,075 yards (15.4-yard average) and 11 touchdowns the previous season.

He’s eager to see what a fully healthy offseason might mean for 2022.

“I think injuries are part of the game, but me personally, I kind of got a little more than my normal (in 2021),” Brown said. “I was dinged up in the offseason. So (this offseason), I can get back to my old ways and train the way I did.”

In just three seasons, Brown already has 185 catches for 2,995 yards (16.2-yard average) and 24 touchdowns. But the 2019 second-round draft pick, who’s eligible for a contract extension, said he’s capable of more.

“I’m still chasing to be the best every day,” Brown said. “I feel like I’m just getting started. I feel like I can do anything I want to do. … I feel like I can be (one of the top two receivers) in the league, and I’m going to just keep chasing.”

Dupree’s 2021 offseason was even more limited than Brown’s because of the ACL reconstruction.

He was cleared from the physically unable to perform list on Aug. 6, and eventually played in the Titans’ first two regular-season games. But Dupree struggled at times and eventually acknowledged he’d tried to rush his comeback. He missed three games while allowing the knee to heal, and then another three games due to an abdominal injury.

He, like Brown, looks forward to a different degree of preparation for 2022.

“This offseason, I can really get to training,” Dupree said. “I’m also sticking to rehab (for the knee and ab injuries), and I’ll continue to do that, but now I can go out and do a lot of training now – stuff that I normally do, stuff I can start off very quick with. So, I’m excited about that, just to have my normal offseason back.”

Dupree racked up a combined 19.5 sacks in 27 games during the 2019 and 2020 seasons with Pittsburgh but slipped to three sacks in 11 games last year. It did appear he was rounding back into form as the season wore on, as he totaled two of his three sacks – and both of his tackles for loss – during the last four weeks of the season.

“At the end of the season I started to feel good,” Dupree said. “But they always say that after the ACL, that second year (is when) you start to feel all the way back. So, I’m looking forward to that ... I’ll make sure this year that I’m healthy as I’ve ever been.”