I know what most of you are thinking. You’re thinking that this is the end of Treylon Burks in Tennessee. You have every right to believe that especially with the acquisition of Tyler Boyd. I’m of a different mindset though. Treylon Burks isn’t going anywhere any time soon.
One thing everyone needs to keep in mind is, the roster is far from complete. Titans GM Ran Carthon and HC Brian Callahan are trying to put together the best 90 man roster to go into training camp with. In 2023, the Cincinnati Bengals went into camp with 12 WRs on there roster. The Titans currently are sitting at 11 with Burks being WR4.
It’s all about creating competition going into training camp. Hopkins, Ridley, and Boyd are locked into their respective positions in my opinion. After that, I feel 5-6 spots will be up for grabs. Treylon is no longer guaranteed a significant role on the team. He will have to earn everything this year.
Nick Westbrook-Ikhine is highly capable of beating out Burks in a camp battle. He’s honestly been as productive or more productive in the last 2 seasons than Burks. Kyle Philips could beat him out in a camp battle as he is a better route runner than Burks. At the same time, Burks and Philips have both struggled to stay healthy their first 2 seasons in the league. Here’s where politics come into play.
Burks is a 1st round draft pick, and Philips is a 5th round draft pick. Teams aren’t going to be too quick to give up on a 1st round draft pick unless the situation is extremely bad. They usually get every shot to make it because of the potential and financial investment. Here are the numbers for Treylon Burks if he’s traded or released this year per spotrac.com:
Financially, it makes no sense to move on from Burks right now via trade. We are not going to even entertain a release of any kind. A case can be made for a post 6/1 trade, but I’m not a fan of acquiring more dead cap. Dead cap is part of the reason we ended up in the hole we just came out off. To me, it makes more sense to see it through with Burks or trade him post 6/1.
I don’t even think teams are lining up to trade for at the moment. It seems like the GM and coaching staff would be talking Treylon up if there were teams looking to trade for him. It’s the complete opposite here in TN. Burks rarely is mentioned. I feel like this coaching staff is trying to push Burks to step up and produce.
I’m not going to write Treylon off but at the same time, I’m not going to be mad if the Titans do find a trade partner for him. It’s put up or shut up for Burks. The best thing he can do at this point is work to stay health. Opportunities will come as long as he’s available and doing his job more times than not.
