3 Reasons Tennessee Titans alleged hole at wide receiver is overblown
By Will Lomas
2. Tennessee Titans have decided to game on Reynolds
Jon Robinson decided to roll the dice on a one-year, $1.75 million deal with Josh Reynolds that ultimately shakes out to a trade-off at the wide receiver position that looks like this:
Tennessee Titans get: Josh Reynolds, $10.92 million in cap space in 2020 with no long term obligations, and a 4th round compensatory pick
New York Jets get: Corey Davis
The value is obviously there in the cap space that helped the Titans grab other free agents like Denico Autry, Janoris Jenkins, Jayon Brown, and etcetera.
While everyone expected the Tennessee Titans to address the other starting wide receiver position in the 2021 NFL Draft, it seems like the team is willing to at least enter training camp with Josh Reynolds as the replacement for Corey Davis.
This has sent people spiraling into depression because Reynolds hasn’t been nearly as productive per target as Corey Davis was in 2020. When you combine the previous two slides, however, you have to realize that the Titans probably boiled this decision down to two key questions.
First, in this offense can the trio of Ryan Tannehill, Derrick Henry, and A.J. Brown distract defenses enough to increase Josh Reynolds’s yards per target? Let’s compare the growth of Corey Davis and the potential of Josh Reynolds.
Corey Davis in 2017 and 2018 (pre-Tannehill): 177 targets, 99 receptions, 1,266 yards, four TDs, 7.15 yards per target, 12.8 yards per reception
Josh Reynolds from 2017-2020 (with Jared Goff): 201 targets, 113 receptions, 1,450 yards, nine TDs, 7.21 yards per target, 12.8 yards per reception
The two receivers are nearly identical on the surface, but when you account for volume the similarities are uncanny. In fact, the only real difference is that Reynolds has been slightly more productive with his limited targets.
Now, the argument against Reynolds taking a leap as Corey Davis did is what is the difference in quarterback play. Marcus Mariota was the quarterback for the Titans during that stretch for Davis while Reynolds was playing with Jared Goff.
That brings up the second key question…