After weeks of questions and speculation Titans head coach Mike Vrabel said rookie 1st round pick Treylon Burks is ready to go for the start of Titans Training Camp.
Burks and the rookies reported Saturday, the rest of the team reported Tuesday. General Manager Jon Robinson said Burks has already passed the conditioning test and has looked good.
The 18th pick of the draft was barely this Spring after failing to finish and then start most of the team practices. Asthma was pointed to as one of the issues, but so was conditioning. Neither are expected to slow him down starting Wednesday.
“He’s put together two good days.” said Vrabel Tuesday, “I’m not going to predict who’s going to be out there every day right now. I can’t do that. I won’t do that. We’re focusing on just daily improvement with each and every player. We’re excited to keep working with him but that’s going to be the same for everybody.”
The Titans drafted Burks in the 1st round after shipping star receiver AJ Brown to the Philadelphia Eagles on draft day. Brown battled thru injuries to be a dominant receiver for the Titans and a favorite or Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill. Almost 25% of Tannehill’s throws last year went to Brown.
The Titans also added veteran Robert Woods in the off-season in a trade with the Los Angeles Rams and Robinson said it is not a simple one-for-one. Robinson says he does not expect Burks to replace Brown, “Treylon’s got to get open, catch and block.”
For the Titans offense to take the kind of step forward the defense did last year though, realistically, Burks does have to replace Brown. No, he does not have to be the dominant, take over a game, kind of force Brown was at times but he does have to be a guy capable of the big play and putting up 1,000 yards or more for the season.
Brown never topped 1,100 yards in the Titans run heavy attack, so it is hard to see Burks going for much more unless the Titans decide to open things up this fall.
Being available is the first criteria though and for now it appears Burks will deliver.