Titans’ Owner Amy Adams Strunk Allegedly Refused to Trade with Patriots Over Grudge
The Tennessee Titans had three players available at the trade deadline who could have helped the New England Patriots fill needs.
The Pats needed more help at wide receiver, edge rusher and running back, three positions the team was rumored to be exploring based on reports.
Meanwhile, Tennessee had logical trade candidates like edge rusher Arden Key, wide receiver Calvin Ridley and running back Tony Pollard, all of whom were rumored to possibly be available.
There could be multiple explanations why no trade occurred between the two teams.
Maybe the Titans were asking for too much. Maybe the Patriots really were not in the market to add to those positions. Maybe the Titans did not want to part with those players. Or, maybe the reason is much more petty.
According to Boston Sports Journal's Mike Giardi, there was a sense around the NFL that the Titans might not be willing to make a deal with the Patriots because Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk had no desire to help her former head coach.
Here's what Giardi said:
I was also told there has been some conversation league-wide that Tennessee might be unwilling to make deals with New England because the owner, Amy Adams Strunk
, continues to think too much about how things ended with Vrabel and is not inclined to help his new team. We'll find out soon enough with the likes of edgeArden Key, RB Tony Pollard, and even WR Calvin Ridley available.
It would be unfathomable for Adams Strunk to take that stand considering she was the one who fired Vrabel in the first place. It's not like Vrabel quit on her, she wanted to cut ties with the head coach.
There is at least some smoke to this fire.
After the Pats-Titans Week 7 game that saw New England annihilate Tennessee, Adams Strunk and the Titans' ownership group did not so much as acknowledge Vrabel in the tunnel, even though they had a clear opportunity to do so.
"Amy Adams Strunk and the rest of the Titans ownership group just walked by Vrabel greeting his players out front of the locker room without so much as a nod. Icy," AtoZ Sports' Buck Reising reported on Oct. 19.
Assuming Giardi's rumor is true, this kind of petty behavior is one of many reasons why the Titans are a listless franchise.
If it is confirmed the rebuilding Titans didn't add much-needed draft capital for such a silly reason, it would be yet another stain on an ownership group that has plenty of them already.
Colorado Avalanche showed Championship-level grit against the Lightning
The Colorado Avalanche fended off the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night, with a final score of 3-2. It was a hard-fought battle between the two 2021-22 Stanley Cup Final teams. If one thing has been evident in the world of hockey—especially with this year’s Avalanche—it’s that you have to battle through the final whistle and faceoff. If you lay back, it can come back and bite you.
Thankfully, that’s not what happened in this game, as the Lightning had to pull goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, forcing them into a 6-on-5 man-advantage to try and get that tying goal. Thankfully, that wasn’t in the cards for the Lightning, as Colorado was able to keep them from scoring.
Cale Makar was a huge part of the game, and especially the final minutes, as he blocked a shot which hit his hand. He was in a lot of pain, as his reaction on the bench clearly showed. On one hand (no pun intended), that’s the type of
Jared Bednar on Cale Makar after blocking the puck late in last night's win over TBL via @AltitudeSR:
He said that Cale is okay!
"It says a lot. Those three minutes, regardless of how you played the whole night... I love what our guys did on that 6-on-5."#GoAvsGo |… — Adrian Hernandez (@AdoHernandez27) November 5, 2025
You know what? That honestly feels like a Championship-quality move. Now, it’s easy to talk about an obvious playoff team being a Stanley Cup contender in November. I also understand the hesitation to do so. But if the Avalanche fight like they did against Tampa Bay on a regular basis, the sky is the limit for them. They finally have quality goaltending, and we have guys who will go out to battle for each other.
Gabriel Landeskog’s fight is also one to note, as he’s been one of the more physical players on this year’s team, which is surprising given his three-year absence from regular season hockey, but it’s a welcome sight. He showed a lot of guts against the Lightning, too. Landeskog continues to show that he is doing quite well in his long recovery from knee surgey, and we might not even have to be talking about it any longer.
The Avalanche have a three-day break before a tilt with the Edmonton Oilers in Western Canada. We’ll get to see the battle between Nathan MacKinnon and Connor McDavid, two guys who are often linked together. That should be a lot of fun. Who knows? Maybe we will get to see Mackenzie Blackwood back in action.
