Jurrell Casey said Monday that the way the Titans traded him to the Broncos after nine seasons in Tennessee was equivalent to throwing him away “like a piece of trash.”
The defensive tackle discussed the trade on the Double Coverage podcast, hosted by the New England Patriots’ Devin and Jason McCourty. Casey was a former teammate of Jason McCourty with the Titans.
“The part that is so crazy is that you give so much to them. Especially when you come up on free agency and have opportunities to go somewhere else. Especially the way it was going when we were there, 2-14, 3-13,” Casey said to Jason McCourty. “Those were some rough times. When you’re a loyal guy and you feel like things are going in the right direction and you’re that centerpiece, you got no choice but to fight it through. My mindset was to stick it out and things would get better.
Casey was a five-time Pro Bowler during his tenure with the Titans. He was named a second-team All-Pro in 2013 after he posted 10.5 sacks. Casey signed a four-year, $60 million contract extension with Tennessee in 2017.
The better days that Casey referred to were capped off by a magical ride to the AFC Championship Game last season. Unfortunately, he won’t get the opportunity to build on last season’s success. The Titans cleared up over $11 million in cap space by trading Casey to the Broncos for a seventh-round draft selection.
Casey said he was working out when he got a call from his agent that the Titans were going to shop him to other teams. He was disappointed that he didn’t hear the news from the team.
“It was a blow to the heart because I would have thought that one of them would have hit me up,” Casey said. “The part that hurt me the most was that I didn’t get a call until like 30 seconds before the trade went down. For three or four days I had some moments where I had to tell the wife to give me a minute and I had a lot of tears come out of there.”
The Titans open the season with a trip to Denver to face Casey and the Broncos on Monday Night Football.
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