Tennessee Titans wide receiver A.J. Brown had the option of playing baseball before ultimately deciding to play in the NFL, as he was drafted by the MLB’s San Diego Padres (19th round) in the league’s 2016 draft.
Thankfully for the Titans, Brown decided to stick with football and ultimately landed with them in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft before lighting the football world on fire in his rookie campaign.
So, why did he choose football over baseball?
As he tells The Athletic’s John Glennon, he “fell out of love” with the latter.
“I was a really good hitter, so that was the fun part about baseball with me, the hitting part,” Brown told Glennon. “The game is just slow. That’s probably why I just fell out of love with it. With football, there’s something you’re doing every play. I mean, who doesn’t like to score touchdowns?”
Brown also notes that the grind of making the Major Leagues is harder and takes a lot longer than the process of making it to the NFL.
“Sometimes I do. I just know it’s a slower grind (in baseball). It’s not every day that people get to the big leagues,” Brown explained. “You might stay in Single-A or Double-A or Triple-A for your whole career. Most guys never get to the big leagues. That was one of my fears, too, with baseball. I knew in football, I could get to the NFL faster. It just takes so much longer to get to the bigs (in baseball).”
The former Ole Miss standout also knew that NFL teams wouldn’t like the idea of him playing both sports, which also factored into his decision-making.
Brown finished his rookie campaign with 1,051 receiving yards and nine total touchdowns (eight receiving), both tops among all NFL rookies. He also finished third in NFL Rookie of the Year voting.
Brown didn’t really take off until Ryan Tannehill was named the team’s starter in Week 7. In 2020, he’ll have a full 16-game season with Tannehill as his quarterback, so the sky’s the limit for what this budding superstar can produce.
