The Titans selected Treylon Burks 18th overall in 2022, the same first-round pick they acquired when trading away a proven player with a similar body type and skill set in Aj Brown. The idea was that the Titans got their next AJ Brown and a third-round pick, saving the cap space it would have taken to retain Brown long-term. Brown was in the final year of his rookie deal.
Brown would immediately ink a 4 year contract extension worth $100 million. With Brown from 2019-2021, the Titans were 32-17, they won no less than 9 games each year and appeared in the playoffs all three seasons. In that same stretch, the Eagles did not surpass 9 wins, collecting a 22-26 record.
Since that trade occurred, the Titans have watched their win total shrink each season, having won 7 games in 2022, 6 in 2023, and 3 in 2024 for a 16-35 record. The Eagles nearly surpassed their three season win total in 2022 alone going 14-3. They are a combined 39-12 in the regular season since acquiring Brown, and 6-2 in the playoffs with two Super Bowl appearances and one win.
Table of Contents
- 1 Is Treylon Burks a Bust or Product of his Surroundings?
- 2 A Wide Receiver Is a Product of his QB Play
Is Treylon Burks a Bust or Product of his Surroundings?
Looking at how Burks’ career has progressed so far, it looks as if he is less a bust than he is a player who has dealt with several severe injuries, inconsistent play, and personnel around him, and coaching changes every season. Worst of all, the team has been playing him out of position a majority of the time. Too often teams draft players expecting them to bend to the team’s needs, when they are not only setting the player up for failure if they can not adapt, they are hampering the immediate production a player can give by asking them to play in a role they are not comfortable with.
It would be one thing if the Titans were to work Burks into the roles they envision for him slowly. Utilizing what he has shown to be proficient at in college to help him gain momentum, while they begin to throw more and more at him over time.
Unfortunately, the Titans refused to realize the importance of how Burks was utilized in college, and has since simply stuck him in the X-receiver role and expected him to make an impact immediately. We will break down the way he has been used, the players and coaches around him and try and lay out a more complete picture of what has transformed Burks from a promising young rookie, to being regarded as a bust just three seasons later.
A Wide Receiver Is a Product of his QB Play
So far during the young career of Treylon Burks the Titans have fielded some of the worst quarterback play in the NFL. In his rookie season, the Titans had Ryan Tannehill who started 12 games, and gave them the most stable and efficient quarterback play they have had over the past three seasons.
Due to injury, the Titans were forced to start Malik Willis and Josh Dobbs for 2 games apiece. Neither managed better than a 58.8% completion rate and neither threw for more touchdowns than interceptions. Collectively the Titans’ quarterbacks had 16 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, and accounted for a total of 17 turnover-worthy plays. After this season the Titans pulled the plug on the Malik Willis experiment and selected Will Levis.
2023 Proves To Be Worse For Burks
In 2023 Tannehill played in just 9 games and watched his touchdown total drop off a cliff. He would account for just 4 touchdowns, to 7 interceptions with 11 turnover-worthy plays total by himself. Will Levis started the last 9 games, and showed some signs of promise; 16 big-time throws, 11.1% adjusted depth of target, and 7.1 yards per attempt.
He also showed concerning signs. Despite finishing with 8 touchdowns to 4 interceptions, he completed just 58.4% of his passes and produced 14 turnover-worthy plays. He had 6 passes batted at the line, he was hit as he threw 6 times, while getting sacked 28 times. 2023 marked the final season of Ryan Tannehill’s career, he played in a total of 9 games but started just 6. He had the lowest completion rate of his time in Tennessee with 64.8%, finishing with 4 touchdowns to 7 interceptions. He also produced 11 turnover-worthy plays to 10 big-time throws.
Malik Willis saw action in just 1 game all season long completing 4 of 5 attempts for 74 yards on 12 drop-backs. He was not credited with a big-time throw or turnover-worthy play. He did however have a 3.55-second average time to throw, pointing to the fact that Willis was forced to improvise due to being pressured on 50% of his drop-backs on the day and sacked 4 times.
Present Day
In 2024 for the first time in Treylon Burks’ young career, his team managed to have just two quarterbacks throw a pass in a regular-season game. Will Levis led the way with 301 attempts in 12 starts. When an injury derailed his season, Mason Rudolph stepped in and threw 228 passes in just 5 starts and 8 appearances. Decision-making proved to be the Achilles heel for this quarterback room as they produced 22 touchdowns to 21 interceptions.
While both players were fairly accurate, at times they would have a lapse of judgment and put the ball in harm’s way. Rudolph had 9 tds and 9 ints, throwing 8 turnover-worthy plays. However, 2 interceptions came in games he was not credited with a turnover-worthy play, and he had 3 turnover-worthy throws that did not result in an interception.
Rudolph threw the ball away 15 times, while being pressured 89 times. This resulted in 11 sacks, 13 scrambles, and he was hit as he threw 4 times.
Levis had a better completion rate, but managed just 1 touchdown more than the interceptions he threw. Finishing with 13 touchdowns, to 12 interceptions. He committed 17 turnover-worthy plays, while putting up 1 less big-time throw than he had in 2023 despite throwing 70 more passes in 2024. He had a higher defensive pressure rating and was pressured nearly 9% more year over year.
This would result in being sacked 13 more times than he had in 2023, and scrambling over twice as much. He threw away nearly three times as many passes. In total these two quarterbacks accounted for 9 penalties as well. The position finished the season with 224 recorded pressures and 52 sacks. Rudolph and Levis scrambled 31 times and threw the ball away 29 times to try and avoid pressure.
To say Burks has had inconsistent quarterback play and talent around him would be an understatement.
During his rookie season, Burks was the third most targeted player on the team with 54 targets. Behind only Robert Woods, and Austin Hooper. Burks finished with 33 receptions a catch percentage of 61.1% one of the lowest figures on the team. However one positive was the 13.5 yards per reception which placed him third on the team for players who were targeted more than four times.
Playing in 11 games he would log five games with at least four receptions and have a breakout performance in a week 11 win catching seven passes for 111 yards. This included a 51-yard catch and run, and a short crossing route where he showed he is not afraid to lower his shoulder and finish a run.
In 2023 Burks dropped to 7th in targets but he played in just 11 games with 9 starts. He played a higher percentage of offensive snaps than he did in 2022, but saw just 30 targets with other young players breaking out around him on the Titans offense. DeAndre Hopkins, Tyjae Spears, Chigozeim Okonkwo, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, and Chris Moore all siphoned targets away from Burks. After an 11.8% target share in 2022, he fell to 6% in 2023. Although he averaged 13.8 yards per reception in 2023 a slight uptick from 2022.
In 2024 Burks appeared in just 5 games starting 2. He was targeted 8 times, catching 4 passes but never recorded more than one reception in a game. His target share dropped to 1.5%. This time it was Calvin Ridley, Tyler Boyd, Tony Pollard, and Nick Vannett who would eat up targets ahead of Burks. The staff roster, and front office had changed so much around him that he was all but left in the dust by the Titans, not able or perhaps not willing to find a role for him.
Coaching/Front Office Changes
During his rookie season, the Titans had Mike Vrabel as the Head Coach, Todd Downing in his second season as the Titans’ Offensive Coordinator, Rob Moore as a Wide Receiver Coach, and Tim Kelly as the Pass Game Coordinator. Also, Ryan Cowden took over as Interim General Manager in addition to his duties as Vice President of Player Personnel in December.
This was less than 9 months after the former General Manager executed the Aj Brown trade that later resulted in the selection of Treylon Burks, a move that was reportedly unpopular with Vrabel.
In 2023 Downing moved on, and Kelly moved up. Vrabel and Moore stayed in the same roles. They also added Charles London as the Passing Game Coordinator. Ran Carthon was promoted to General Manager, and Cowden was gone. The Front Office received a facelift before the 2023 season. With Ran Carthon taking over as GM, Chad Brinker and Anthony Robinson took on Assistant General Manager roles. Monti Ossenfort was hired by the Arizona Cardinals as their General Manager. At this point, every voice in the front office that had been a part of selecting Burks was no longer with the team.
After a 6-11 season and a 4th-place finish in the AFC South, the Titans decided to blow up the coaching staff. Hiring Brian Callahan who brought with him Offensive Coordinator Nick Holz who had just one season of collegiate play-calling experience after spending the majority of his career as a Quality Control coach. Tyke Tolbert was hired as the Wide Receivers Coach bringing with him up-and-coming Assistant Payton McCullum.
In 2024 the Titans bottomed out at 3-14 earning the number one overall pick. This resulted in the first year GM Ran Carthon being fired, and with him left Anthony Robinson. Mike Borgonzi was hired as GM, with Dave Ziegler as Assistant GM, and Reggie McKenzie as Vice President/Football Advisor. They also promoted Chad Brinker to President of Football Operations.
Four seasons as a professional and the Titans have gone through four general managers, two head coaches, two passing game coordinators, three offensive coordinators, and two wide receiver coaches. In fact, 2025 marks the first time his Head Coach, Offensive Coordinator, and Wide Receivers coach have stayed the same during his professional career.
This run of coaching changes goes back to his time in college. During his first season in college, he began with Head Coach Chad Morris, but after 10 games he was fired with Tight Ends Coach Barry Lunney Jr. taking over the interim role. At the time the Offensive Coordinator was Joe Craddok.
During his second season at Arkansas, they hired a new Head Coach, and Offensive Coordinator but retained his wide receiver coach Justin Stepp. However, Stepp departed before the 2021 season. Kenny Guiton was hired as his replacement. Along the way, Burks has been learning new offensive schemes, play-calling tendencies/terminology, and coaching styles every season since his freshman year of college.
He has been getting by on his elite-level size and athleticism rather than being able to focus on reaching his full potential by fine-tuning his game. Allow Burks to learn and build on his knowledge of the offensive scheme he is in as a pro for more than two seasons at a time and you might finally see the best version of Burks that you can get. Which brings me to the next big factor that has hurt Burks.
Injuries, and Time Away from the Field
Treylon Burks in 3 seasons has played in 27 total games having missed 24 games. These injuries have not only limited his effectiveness but also allowed other players to leapfrog him in the lineup. The largest issue about the injuries is the timing and the aforementioned coaching changes.
For a young player time away from the field rehabbing an injury can sometimes be a good thing. It allows them to watch how their teammates approach certain situations, and gives them even more time to be in the playbook utilizing mental reps to commit every play to memory. For young wide receivers, they can use this time to study how veteran receivers disguise their routes, how to use their hands to beat press coverage, or how to find the soft spot in zone coverage. These techniques are what make an average receiver good, a good receiver great, and a great receiver one of the best.
Unfortunately when you are forced to learn a new offense every season, this time away is better utilized learning the playbook and not focusing on the intricacies of the position. Burks has essentially started from square one each season, and you could argue heading into his third season in 2024 he was actually starting from behind square one. He was faced with making an impression on a new staff and front office, none of which had any part in selecting him in 2022.
He was immediately behind other players in the pecking order, as another new front office and coaching staff built the roster in their image. As the new staff began the rebuild of the offensive roster, Burks was slowly buried on the depth chart in the process. It could be time for a trade to an organization willing to put him in a position to succeed.
Playing Out of Position?
The biggest issue with the way Burks has been used during his professional career is where and how he is used. During college Burks logged 1,762 total snaps. Of those, 1,323 or 75% of his total snaps came in the slot. Another 23 snaps came with him lined up in line almost like another tight end. He also saw 81 total snaps lined up in the backfield. Only 237 snaps came playing out wide.
Burks joined Arkansas after collecting over 900 rushing yards as a high school junior. Then came into the NFL and went from playing 13% of his total snaps in college lined up out wide, to 77% of his snaps coming lined up outside in 2022, 68% in 2023, and 80% in 2024. So far no coach has looked back and seen that Burks has been at his most effective out of the slot, in line, and in the backfield. He has played just 21% of his professional snaps in these alignments.
I would love to see the Titans coaching staff get creative with Burks and use him more as a true running back similar to how Cordarelle Patterson was used after leaving Minnesota. At 6’2 225 pounds Burks has the build for it, and the skillset as a pass catcher to be an effective weapon when used in passing situations. Coming out of college a big part of his game was being utilized as a runner out of the backfield, and at times this even included as a wildcat quarterback.
Since transitioning out of running back full-time in college, Burks has handled a total of 49 carries for 288 yards and 1 touchdown. That is an average of 5.9 yards per carry, nothing to ignore when you are a struggling team looking for a spark, and trying to find a role for a former first round pick. If it’s not in the backfield however, the Titans need to cater to Burks’ background and use him almost exclusively in the slot or lined up tight to the formation.
In a perfect world, Burks would operate similarly to an H-back. Line up in the backfield, inline, in the slot, and occasionally out wide, while playing special teams as well. Until he is given the time to learn a system, or placed in a role that caters to his skillset, can he really be considered a bust, or is this on the organization that drafted him?
Sources:
- Never a Dull Moment in the NFC East Week 11 Recap
- Jahan Dotson Taking on a Larger Role in 2025
- Fantasy Reports: Top Players to Start in Week 1
- 🚌 The Bus Driver’s Guide to Fantasy Football for Beginners 2025 Season and Beyond
- Treylon Burks’ Career Already Derailed in Year 4 by the Tennessee Titans
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