Tennessee Titans needs: How to fill the gap at wide receiver
Free agent candidates to fill the Tennessee Titans need at wide receiver.
The Tennessee Titans have a gaping hole that needs to be filled in their depth chart at wide receiver.
Last season, Tajae Sharpe saw 35 targets come his way as the 4th wide receiver on the depth chart. Granted, Adam Humphries missed games due to an injury, but Sharpe saw plenty of playing time even before the injury. Tajae Sharpe finished the season with a 71.4% catch percentage.
That reliability is exactly what the Titans need in their replacement WR4. In free agency, players like Paul Richardson, Demaryius Thomas, and Taylor Gabriel remain. So which receivers still available are actually fits for the Titans needs? Could Dez Bryant make an NFL comeback?
The Titans seem to be set at receiver when you look at the top three on the roster. AJ Brown had one of the best rookie seasons the NFL has seen in a while from a WR. Corey Davis is considered a bust by many people, but his career has been decent at worst.
Decent isn’t justifiable for a top 5 pick but if Davis can be productive in a WR2 role then I’m here for it. Adam Humphries is Mr. Reliable, catching nearly 80% of his targets for over 10 yards per reception. There is reason for concern when you consider the normal wear and tear of an NFL season. Some of these guys are bound to get banged up, and in that case, you’ll want someone you trust lining up as the 2nd or 3rd option to catch the ball.
In the most recent episode of the No Nonsense Podcast, hosts, Luke Worsham, Will Lomas, and Matias Wodner explained that a WR4 should be able to run most if not all of the route tree effectively. Another point I gathered from the show was that 4th and 5th wideouts on the depth chart are more important than you think because ultimately they will end up playing quite a few downs through the course of the season.
I agree with this completely and while Khalif Raymond does a great job of running deep routes, I’m not sure how versatile his game is. At 5’8, Raymond is much smaller than 6’2 Tajae Sharpe who he would be replacing.
I’m a huge Khalif Raymond fan, but I believe he has a specific role that he fits best in. That role is a deep threat and while I do think he should be more prominent in the offense than last season I think the Titans need to find another player to fit in the depth chart above him. I feel great with Khalif Raymond running a deep route on a 2nd and 1 play-action play, but on 3rd and 5 with some of our targets banged up he’s not the guy I want to see running an out route.
In 2019, Raymond had an average of 18.9 yards per reception. That is exactly the way I feel he should be utilized, just hopefully a bit more next season.
Who would be a fit for this role? I would much rather add a veteran to this group of young wideouts than bring in a 2nd or third-year player. A player who has been there and done that would provide a reliable target to Ryan Tannehill and experience that could be valuable to the younger receivers.
If there were any veteran wideouts still available that could provide value and production to a team they would probably be gone this far into free agency, right? Not necessarily, here are some candidates who would immediately make the Tennessee Titans better.