The biggest NFL news of the weekend came from Nashville as the Titans secured wide receiver Julio Jones in a trade with the Falcons.
Responses to that move have come from many people, including the Titans’ top returning wideout. A.J. Brown wears No. 11 because he’s admired Jones from afar for many years and exchanged jerseys with Jones after a game in Atlanta during the 2019 season, so his excitement about the deal shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.
“All the way up through college, he has been my favorite receiver, someone I’ve always looked up to,” Brown said, via the team’s website. “Just having someone like that in the locker room now, that I can just ask: ‘What do I need to do here?’ It is great. We talk all the time anyway, but having someone that close, and to see it on the field first-hand for yourself, it is great. To be honest, I have a picture in my locker of Julio, and I ask myself every day before I go out to practice: Don’t let Julio outwork you, because that’s how I measure myself up to the best receiver in the game. So to have him on the same [team] as me, it is going to raise my level of play, too, which is great.”
Brown wore No. 1 while in college and the combination of Jones’ arrival and the change in NFL rules governing single-digit jerseys could lead to a change when he welcomes his new teammate to town.
A.J. Brown: Julio Jones will raise my level of play originally appeared on Pro Football Talk