A.J. Brown tweets, then deletes, farewell to Tennessee Titans fans following trade

Former Tennessee Titans wide receiver A.J. Brown tweeted, then deleted, a farewell to Titans fans following his trade to the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday night.

“Tennessee I love you and you will forever be in my heart and I can say this now… THIS WAS NOT MY FAULT. But I wish you all the best. Love,” Brown said in a tweet on Thursday that was deleted.

Former Tennessee Titans wide receiver A.J. Brown tweets, then deletes, about his trade to the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday night during the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft.

Brown was traded to the Eagles in exchange for the No. 18 and No. 101 picks in this year’s draft. Tennessee later selected Arkansas wide receiver Treylon Burks at 18th overall.

Brown agreed to a four-year, $100 million deal with the Eagles, ESPN reported later Thursday, that included $57 million guaranteed.

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Titans coach Mike Vrabel told the “Rich Eisen Show” earlier this month that Brown would not be on the trade block.

“Not as long as I’m the head coach,” Vrabel said. “I love A.J. professionally, personally. I’ve gotten to know him well as his coach and enjoy seeing him as much as I possibly can.”

Tennessee Titans wide receiver A.J. Brown (11) leaves the field after beating the 49ers at Nissan Stadium Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021 in Nashville, Tenn.

“As long as I’m the coach here, I’d love to have A.J. Brown on my football team,” Vrabel said later in the interview.

That tone changed on Thursday, as Vrabel indicated that money was a factor in considering a trade of Brown.

“This is just another example of making tough decisions that hopefully in the long run is going to make our team better,” Vrabel said Thursday in a news conference following the first round. “I know it probably doesn’t get received by that publicly, but this was a difficult process to get through and I know what the gap we had to bridge was. This wasn’t easy.”

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: A.J. Brown tweets, deletes farewell to Tennessee Titans fans