Titans rookie A.J. Brown explains his side of fight with Patriots’ Stephon Gilmore

Tennessee Titans rookie wide receiver A.J. Brown found himself tangled up with the NFL's best cornerback in Thursday's practice against the New England Patriots, and he wasn't going to back down.

Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore and Brown refused to let go of each other during a drill and a scuffle ensued as players from both teams intervened.

Pretty good Dustup just erupted. Rookie AJ Brown remained locked up with Gilmore after running play. Neither was letting go. Brown said some stuff. Gilmore shoved. It was on. Devin McCourty probably the most active Pat in the scrap.
— Tom E. Curran (@tomecurran) August 15, 2019

The rookie explained his side of the altercation after practice, and as you might expect, a little trash talk was involved.

"Regardless of who it is, disrespect is disrespect."
Here's what #Titans rookie WR A.J. Brown had to say about today's scrum with #Patriots. pic.twitter.com/eZZ9Wk13ug
— John Glennon (@glennonsports) August 15, 2019

The Titans selected Brown in the second round (51st overall) of the 2019 NFL Draft after tallying 85 receptions for 1,320 yards and six touchdowns for Ole Miss in 2018.

He'll try to help improve a Titans passing attack that ranked 29th out of 32 NFL teams in yards per game last season. But in the meantime, the Titans should be pleased with the competitiveness he showed Thursday against the shutdown corner of the defending Super Bowl champions.