Ben Roethlisberger details faith journey, growth as Christian in NFL

July 24, 2025

31 3 minutes read

Tennessee Titans wide receiver Treylon Burks, June 3, 2025. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Tennessee Titans wide receiver Treylon Burks didn’t expect his 2024 season to end so abruptly. Yet a torn left ACL during a routine special teams drill last October brought everything to a sudden halt, just five games into his third NFL season.

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A recovery process that could’ve unraveled Burks instead became a season of unexpected clarity and a time marked not just by rehab, but by deep reliance on God. Now, nine months later, Burks is walking across that same practice facility with a renewed strength and peace in hopes of returning stronger than ever.

“I feel amazing, just blessed,” Burks told TennesseeTitans.com last month after offseason workouts. “I’ve just been leaning on God, leaning on the people that believe in me, care. And I feel really good, and happy to be in the situation I’m in.”

A few looks at Treylon Burks back at practice for the #Titans. pic.twitter.com/u29og5bkjb

— TURRON DAVENPORT (@TDavenport_NFL) May 28, 2025

A first-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft out of Arkansas, Burks’ career has been anything but smooth. He’s battled numerous injuries, most notably concussions, including a scary moment in Pittsburgh in 2023 when he was momentarily knocked unconscious. The ACL tear last October was the latest body blow to a promising young career.

But, buoyed by his faith in God, Burks has maintained a positive perspective through his various injuries.

“I’m just blessed by the grace of God,” he told TennesseeTitans.com, “and the people that have poured into me and have worked with me every day to get me back to where I am now. I am just extremely excited to get back and play ball again.”

His progress started internally — with faith in his Heavenly Father and a remembrance of who he is and where his strength comes from.

“It really starts with your mental,” he said. “Tearing an ACL, having any big injury like that, is definitely devastating. I did it by the grace of God, just to make it simple. I wouldn’t be able to do it without Him, without the courage He provides me. My daughter, my wife, a lot of friends, family. It means more when you are able to do it for just a bigger purpose than just yourself. I pride myself on that.”

The Titans drafted Burks with the first-round pick the team received after trading star wide receiver A.J. Brown, so he faced expectations to be a productive receiver from the moment he set foot in Nashville. Three years in, he’s caught 53 passes for 699 yards and one touchdown. He had his best season as a rookie in 2022, when he recorded 33 catches for 444 yards and a touchdown.

Due to injuries, Burks has never played in more than 11 games in any of his first three years in the league. It’s not where he’d hoped his career would be by now, but he’s embracing disappointment with faith. When asked during his rookie season what keeps him going amid the struggles, he kept it simple: “My teammates, God and my family.”

Burks told TennesseeTitans.com that “I never questioned God, like, ‘Why me?’ But it did put the mindset in my head, on if I still love the game, because it comes with a lot. And, just from going out every day, seeing what the guys are going through, watching it from home, it made me miss it more, and [now I want] to honor it.

“Every day that I am here at this facility, and every day that I am working, I don’t take it for granted. It means a lot more to me now. I’m not saying it didn’t mean a lot before, but it definitely means more now.”

Starting Tuesday as the Titans’ training camp opens, he’ll be competing for a job in a crowded wide receiver room with 13 receivers on the current roster. Tennessee added veterans Van Jefferson and Tyler Lockett and drafted Chimere Dike and Elic Ayomanor.

Burks knows it won’t be easy, but he’s not focused on where he stands on the depth chart each day; he’s focused on all that God has done in his life.

“I am not going out to prove nobody wrong, I am going out to prove myself right,” he said. “I tore my ACL and I am running. I am running routes, doing everything within those seven months, and it’s like, ‘Wow.’ And it’s nobody but God who made it happen. That’s who I play for and that’s who I lean on.”