OCTOBER 8: As expected, Burks cleared waivers Wednesday, Garafolo tweets. Several weeks after initially being informed he would be waived, the former first-round pick is a free agent.
OCTOBER 7: Although Treylon Burks is trending upward in terms of health, he will not factor into the Titans’ plans. Tennessee is cutting the veteran wide receiver from its IR list, NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo reports.
This will be an injury settlement-generated divorce, but with Burks receiving medical clearance (after a 2024 ACL tear), it would surprise if he lingered in free agency for too long. A second chance appears likely for the former first-round pick. Burks will need to clear waivers, as a non-vested veteran, but his resume and first-round contract should ensure he does so.
Tennessee waived Burks well before the August roster-setting deadline, and he reverted to IR. That made him unable to return to the team this season on his current contract. Although teams occasionally circle back to players placed on season-ending IR following injury settlements, that is highly unlikely here. Burks was a Jon Robinson-era draftee, chosen after the draft-night A.J. Brown trade, who did not live up to expectations. With the Titans two GMs removed from Robinson, Burks will be leaving Nashville soon.
The Titans fired Robinson months after his Burks pick, axed Mike Vrabel barely a year later and then canned Ran Carthon in January. Chad Brinker, Carthon’s former lieutenant, is now president of football ops; Brinker hired Mike Borgonzi as GM. Brinker was not with the Titans when they drafted Burks.
Burks, who has just a 53/699/1 line across three seasons, has battled injuries in multiple years. He played in five games last season, catching just four passes for a 3-14 Titans team. He caught Robinson and Co.’s attention with two quality seasons at Arkansas. Burks totaled 66 receptions for 1,104 yards and 11 touchdowns in his final Razorbacks season (2021) and was viewed, perhaps unfairly, as a big-bodied Brown replacement. Obviously, those hopes came nowhere close to transpiring.
The Titans have overhauled their WR room otherwise, adding veterans DeAndre Hopkins and Calvin Ridley since the Burks pick. The team traded Hopkins last year, and Ridley’s guarantees wrap after this season. The team has Tyler Lockett, Van Jefferson and fourth-round rookies Elic Ayomanor and Dike Chimere as other options.