Well, here’s something to smile about as the Tennessee Titans and their fans get ready to enjoy their final weekend before training camp gets underway during July’s final week. Your favorite team hits the practice field for the first time in what feels like 12 months, and when they do, they’ll be getting some work in with one of the five best wide receiving corps in the entire NFL.
Don’t take Titan Sized‘s word for it (although our staff would probably slot them higher than five). These are the opinions of Pro Football Focus’ Steve Palazzolo who recently dropped his ranking of the 32 best receiving corps in professional football.
It’s nice to see the Tennessee Titans’ roster get some credit for once.
If you’ve been paying attention, the Tennessee Titans, their general manager, Jon Robinson, their coach, Mike Vrabel, and their roster have been disrespected in just about every way that it can be done. While there’s no reason to get into deep dives, but here are just some of the lowlights if you need a refresher.
Their rookies have been slighted by one source or another as guys who were taken too high (Monty Rice) or guys that may not cut it (Dez Fitzpatrick). Their coach has been thrown into the middle of the pack by just about every coaching ranking that you can find. They’ve even gotten an unfair nod by the worldwide leader in sports as ESPN lamented that they don’t seem to have any staying power among the NFL’s elite over the next few years.
PFF has even been known to slight Tennessee in a ranking or two but at least Palazzolo got it right here, sort of. He gives the Titans the fifth spot on his NFL ranking, and here’s what he offered all of us as some of his defense for the decision.
"After what felt like a risky offseason of failing to replace key pass catchers, the Titans may have hit the jackpot by trading for Julio Jones to play opposite A.J. Brown.Brown has been dominant in his two NFL seasons, capable of getting behind a defense and creating explosive plays after the catch… Jones can win at any level and still has the size, speed, and ball skills to make defenses pay if they focus too much on Brown. Just having Jones on the roster takes pressure off Josh Reynolds, who has yet to grade above 67.4 in his four-year career. He finished at 65.5 overall on a career-high 896 snaps in 2020.The rest of the wide receiver depth chart includes unproven talent, such as Cameron Batson, Chester Rogers, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, Dez Fitzpatrick, and Racey McMath…"
It’s truly going to be fun to watch Julio Jones and A.J. Brown work. That one’s a match made in two-tone blue heaven.
Finishing ahead of the Tennessee Titans are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Buffalo Bills. Maybe you can flip-flop Buffalo and Tennessee on the list, but hey, there’s no point in debating this one for long periods. Games won’t be won in PFF’s rankings, even though they’re fun to argue over, and at least Tennessee isn’t sitting in the list behind Indianapolis or in the middle of the ranking at 16 or something.
Rounding out the rest of Palazzolo’s list is the Minnesota Vikings, the Denver Broncos, the San Francisco 49ers, the Los Angeles Rams, and the Miami Dolphins. If you’re interested in where the rivals landed, the Jacksonville Jaguars finished at 24. The Colts are one spot behind them at 25, and Houston comes in dead last at 32.