Ryan Tannehill and Derrick Henry earned credit for helping spearhead the Tennessee Titans offense to a playoff trip. Not enough recognition nationally went to rookie receiver A.J. Brown, whose big-play acumen spearheaded a splashy passing offense.
Brown finished third in Offensive Rookie of the Year voting despite being the only wideout to earn more than 1,000 yards receiving last season. Brown was a key reason the Titans were in the postseason, while the two players ahead of him in OROY voting, Kyler Murray and Josh Jacobs, sat at home in January.
Entering Year 2, Brown isn't fretting the lack of accolades. If anything, he's using that as motivation for 2020.
"All the Offensive Rookie of the Year stuff, it is really behind me," Brown said Wednesday, via the team's official website. "I didn't win. Congratulations to Kyler, but I didn't win, and I am moving on with it. I am not going to sit here and dwell on it.
"It definitely made me hungrier to achieve bigger goals, so that's what I am going to do."
Brown made big play after big play last season, catching 52 passes for 1,051 yards and eight touchdowns. A YAC maven as a rookie, the wideout showed he could make contested catches in traffic and had the size to bully smaller defensive backs.
"I think the sky is the limit for me to be honest," Brown said. "I am great learner, and I am going to keep learning each and every day. There's definitely a lot of things I can clean up. In year one, I was really just trying to play fast and not think about it too much. In year two I can really key in and focus what I really need to focus on and learn a lot more stuff in regard to coverages and everything else.
"(I want) to improve on everything. I want to be a complete, well-rounded football player."
In order to have an even better year in his sophomore season, Brown has been working with backup quarterback Logan Woodside a few times a week.
"I am definitely catching a lot of footballs -- I am making sure I am catching over 1,000 balls a day," he said. "I am definitely putting in the work. And doing these workouts, I am a country boy, so I like to be outside anyway."
While Henry will continue to be the motor that runs the Titans offense in 2020, Brown is the nitrous that kicks the operation into high gear. After a spectacular rookie campaign, Brown is just scratching the surface of his capability.
