How Jon Robinson Set The Tennessee Titans Back Years

The Tennessee Titans waived wide receiver Treylon Burks today, marking the end of one of the worst trades and draft picks in history. While this move alone helped the Titans go from the first seed in the AFC in 2020 to having the first overall pick in 2025, it wasn't the lone move that led to this. Let's look at some of the biggest mistakes by Jon Robinson that killed the Titans competitive potential

Drafting troubles

NFL teams are built through drafting, and first, second, and third round picks are crucial for teams to be competitive. Robinson, however, missed on many top 100 picks.

Jon Robinson had some major hits in his first draft, with players like Jack Conklin, Derrick Henry, and Kevin Byard, but he still had some major flops. With the 33rd pick in the 2016 draft, he selected Kevin Dodd out of clemson. In his two seasons with the team, Dodd recorded a single sack and only played in 18 games before being released for failing to report to training camp. In the same draft, the Titans also selected Austin Johnson with the 43rd pick. Johnson would play for the team for four years and would only ever be a depth piece, only getting 2.5 sacks for the team in four years before becoming a free agent.

2017 was not a terrible draft for Robinson, however his two first round picks Corey Davis and Adoree Jackson would not sign new contracts after their rookie contracts. This effectively wasted two top 20 picks and did not help the team in building for the future. The same story would be the case in 2018, as their first round pick Rashaan Evans would not sign a second contract with the team.

2020 would mark the downfall of Jon Robinson, as with the 29th pick he would select Isaiah Wilson from Georgia. "The Panda" was constantly having legal issues and obtained a suspension from the team. In his Titans career, Wilson played a total of 4 snaps, 3 of which were kneels. This goes down as one of the worst picks in Titans history, and began their setbacks. In the same draft, they drafted Kristian Fulton with the 61st pick, who would serve as their starting corner at times, however was never very good constantly getting penalties and giving up big catches. Finally, with their third round pick, the team selected Darrynton Evans who would never serve as more than a depth piece.

2021 would continue his troubles, as he would select Caleb Farley with the 22nd pick. Farley could never stay healthy enough to play, tearing his ACL only 6 weeks into his rookie season. In his second season, he would be a backup until suffering a herniated disc in week 10, ending his Titans career until his eventual release. Farley was another massive fail of a first round pick, further setting the team back. With their third round picks, the team would select Monty Rice and Elijah Molden, neither of which would fulfill their full contract with the team, as Rice was released and Molden was traded to the Chargers for a day 3 pick.

2022, Robinson's last draft, set his destiny into stone. After trading star wide receiver A.J. Brown for a first round pick, the team would select Treylon Burks. Burks would receive a concussion and turf toe in his first season, only allowing him to play in 11 games. In his second season he would get another concussion and an LCL sprain, and would only appear in 11 games. In his third season, Burks would tear his ACL after 5 games, and in this seasons training camp he wore break his collarbone, ending his Titans tenure. Robinson had the worst stretch of first round picks imagineable, with 3 straight being released or traded before fulfilling their contracts and none capable of playing a full season. In the third round of the same draft, the team selected Malik Willis and Nicholas Petit-Frere. Willis would be traded for a 7th round pick after only two seasons, and Petit-Frere would be released after his third season.

Not Resigning Players

A good football team has to keep their talent, and Robinson simply would not do that during his tenure. Only 1 of his 8 first round picks would sign extensions, so the Titans relied mainly on late round depth or free agents, which did not end up being a winning formula.

The 8th pick in the 2016 NFL draft was Jack Conklin. Conklin was a really solid tackle for the team for his four-year tenure. During that time, the team had a good offensive line to protect their quarterback and helped Derrick Henry achieve a 2000 yard season, but for some reason, Robinson declined his fifth year option and did not give him an extension. The same story was with Nate Davis, who helped hold down the offensive line from 2019-2022, but Robinson let him walk instead of giving an extension. This has hurt the Titans line for years, and caused 3 first round picks in 5 years to be offensive lineman. A team can not be successful if every offseason they are wasting resources on a single position group.

As previously mentioned, first round picks Corey Davis, Adoree Jackson, and Rashaad Evans were let walk after their rookie contracts. While none of these picks were home runs, they were all solid players who could have been of great help to the team, but instead the picks ended up being wasted and would go on to hurt the team.

Bad Trades

Other big failures came from poor choices when making trades. The most obvious one is of course the trade that sent A.J. Brown to the Eagles for the 18th pick and a 2023 3rd round pick. A.J. Brown started his career with back to back 1000 yard seasons, and only did not reach that mark in his third season due to injury. In 2020, Brown made the pro bowl with the Titans. Brown was a top receiver in the league, but because Robinson did not want to give him an extension, he chose to trade him. Since being traded, A.J. has been to 2 superbowls, made the pro bowl twice, and been a 3-time second team all pro. He would get almost 1500 yards two straight seasons and over 1000 in his third season, where he played only 13 games. This trade almost single-handedly set the titans offensive back many years.

via Wikipedia

The other major failing trade was when Robinson traded a second and fourth round pick for Julio Jones. This seemed like a great trade on paper, as Jones was still regarded as a top receiver in the league, but this did not end up panning out. In only one season with the team, Jones recorded 31 catches for 434 yards and one touchdown before being released. Jones and head coach Mike Vrabel did not seem to get along, which could have contributed to the play, but that remains a mystey. What isn't a mystery, however, is the underwhelming play by Jones.

via Sportsnet